Chasing Down the Moon Arc
by Moon Faery
Summary: Duo takes the time out to show Heero what he's missing, and Heero suddenly becomes aware of how close he and Duo could be. But how many stumbling blocks will they face to get there they're going, where ever that might be? Discontinued.
1. Story 01: In the Rain

In The Rain 1/1  
Rating: G  
Genre: General  
Pairings: Take a wild guess. **coughcough1x2cough** Why is everyone   
glaring at me?  
Spoilers: N/A  
  
Warnings: Strange things, semi-beta'd  
  
By Moon Faery  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However, this story line and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....  
***  
  
Heero woke to hear the pounding of the rain against the vinyl floor of the dorm room. It danced aross the glass, sliding down the pane to dribble inside, creating a puddle. Every few moments, a lightning strike would lightup the room, followed by a crash of thunder that shook the walls. The wind howled through the room, making the sheets flutter and loose papers take flight.  
  
In the middle of it all sat Duo Maxwell, legs dangling outside as he perched on the windowsill. The boxers and t-shirt that were his normal sleeping clothes were soaked, sticking to his skin, and his long braid had left a puddle all its own in the floor, testament to the water it was retaining. His face was turned away, but Heero could see that he was watching the storm, appartently enraptured by the force of nature just beyond the window.  
  
"What are you doing?" Heero demanded of the teenage freedom fighter, sitting up.   
  
Duo leaned farther out the window, not even bothering to look at his irate partner. "I'm watching the rain."  
  
"Get back in bed and close the window," the blue-eyed boy ordered. "You're making a mess."  
  
"So?" Duo leaned back, taking a deep and laughing breath as a gust of wind hit him squarely in the face, blowing his bangs back to reveal blissfully closed eyes. "It's only water, after all."  
  
Heero snorted, sliding out of bed and stalking over to Duo. "It's only a storm. Now get back in bed."  
  
"There's no such thing," Duo replied absently, still watching the clouded sky. He had a wild, not entirely sane look on his face, similar to the one he wore when piloting Deathscythe.  
  
"What?"  
  
"There's no such thing as, 'only a storm', Heero. Didn't you know that?" Duo eyed him sidelong with wicked violet eyes that seemed to glow with a life all their own.  
  
"Hn."  
  
The pilot of Deathscythe turned back to the veiw outside. "You don't believe me, do you?" He didn't wait for an answer, instead shifting his weight and sliding silently out the first story window onto the manicured lawn.  
  
"Duo!" Heero brushed his slighty soggy bangs out of his eyes. "What are you doing?"  
  
Duo grinned up at him, throwing his arms wide and twirling. The image seemed to freeze for a moment as lightning lit the sky, seeming to dance in his glorious eyes. "I'm proving my point!" he called, barely audible over the thunder that followed. "C'mon!"  
  
"You're going to get yourself killed!" the other boy warned, slipping out the window and into the inclement weather.   
  
"It won't hurt me!" Duo threw his head back, feeling the thunder roll over him. Almost as an afterthought, he reached behind him and took off his hairtie, letting the soaked strands unravel in the howling wind, the rain drops beating against him like a drum. He laughed again.  
  
Heero finally worked his way to the other boy, dodging potentially hazardous mud puddles and the occasional tree limb. "DUO!" He had to shout to be heard over the storm. Reaching out, he grabbed the braided boy's arm, keeping him from doing anything else that was stupid.  
  
Duo looked at him with that crazy grin. "Can't you feel it?" he asked, somehow not having to raise his voice.  
  
"You're insane!" Heero answered over the noise, beginning to drag his partner back to their room. Somehow, Duo slipped out of his grasp, sliding behind him to wrap damp arms around his bare shoulders. He pressed close against the Asian boy's back, resting his chin on one muscled shoulder.  
  
"Heero," Duo's voice whispered over his skin. "Don't you hear it?"  
  
"Hear what?" Heero growled, frustrated with the games the braided one was playing.  
  
Duo leaned into the other boy, resting his cheek on Heero's shoulder. "Just listen," he murmured, lips barely brushing across the skin of Heero's neck.  
  
Heero would have retorted, but the sky lit up again, filling the air with electricity and sending a tingling feeling down his spine. It blinded him for a moment, blocking out everything except the feeling of the rain against his skin, and the rhythm of the thunder in his bones.   
  
"Do you feel it, Heero?" He could feel Duo smile against his shoulder as he stilled, the other pilot a warmth against his back. The raging storm didn't seem so dangerous anymore.  
  
Heero swallowed, closing his eyes against his returning sight. "It's... alive," he breathed wonderingly, lost in the feel of the earth's heartbeat against the soles of his bare feet. He couldn't understand why he hadn't felt it before; the steady pulse of the earth was imposible to miss, now that he knew it was there.  
  
"Mm-hm," Duo answered softly, hugging Heero back against him. "Now do you understand?"  
  
He nodded, eyes darkening to midnight as the lightning flashed around them again. "It's beautiful."  
  
"Yes, she is."  
  
***OWARI*** 


	2. Story 02: The Storm 01

The Storm 1/3  
Sequel to "In the Rain"  
Story 2 in "Chasing Down the Moon"  
Rating: Pg  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Pissy Duo, mild language, budding shounen ai  
By Moon Faery  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn   
for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I   
know own it. However, this story line and plot are MINE, and so is Ms.   
Crevil. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....  
  
Author Notes: For those of you who read 'In the Rain', Good For You! ^-^   
You wont have to read it to understand what's going on in this. You'll   
notice that there's theme going on with the weather. What can I say? I like   
rainy nights.  
Anyone up for me making this a trilogy or a miniArc?  
***  
  
Duo watched Heero from under lowered bangs, scribbling randomly on   
his notebook as the teacher droned on about physics and gravity forces. His   
eyes followed the neat, concise movement of Heero's slightly bronzed, long   
fingers as they wrote down the teacher's every word.  
  
It had been three whole days since that time that they had spent   
together in the storm, and Duo was beginning to unravel. They had sat up   
all night, watching the sunrise through a clearing sky before returning to   
their dorm. Duo hoped that Heero might have warmed up to him a little to   
him, since he hadn't seemed bothered by their closeness when they had been   
surrounded by pouring rain and lightning. Unfortunately for him, however,   
Heero had become even more distant. It was almost as if he were avoiding   
him.  
  
"Mr. Maxwell!"  
  
"Yes?" Duo looked up and smiled attentively, only just beginning to   
notice the other students vacating the classroom eagerly.  
  
"Were you even paying attention?" Ms. Crevil asked gently, absently   
sticking a pencil into her gray-streaked French-twist, joining many others.  
  
"Of course I was, Ma'am," Duo answered easily, conveniently   
forgetting to mention exactly what it was he'd been paying attention to.  
  
"Then why are you still here after the lunch bell?" The teacher sat   
on her desk and smiled amusedly at him. Her hazel eyes slid to Heero's   
retreating back for a moment, and her smile grew a little wider. Duo found   
himself blushing.  
  
"Um, no reason," he stuttered. "I'll go get lunch now." Grabbing his   
books, he ran out the door in a flash of braid.  
  
Ms. Crevil shook her head at his antics. "Ah, young love." She   
blinked, looking down at her hand. "Now where did that pencil go?"  
  
***  
  
Heero sat in a corner of the lunch room, text book in hand, not   
eating. He had long since decided that the odds of starvation were   
significantly less than those of food poisoning or genetic mutation. Not   
everyone had come to the same conclusion, though. In his direct line of   
sight, on the far side of the room, sat one Duo Maxwell, munching on some   
fries.  
  
Contrary to what one might think from the way he acted, Duo actually   
ate very little. Heero sometimes found himself wondering how Duo managed to   
survive with so little food. He did have a bad habit of storing non-  
perishable food items in the oddest places. More than one, Heero had leaned   
against a wall, only to have it give out under his weight to reveal a stash   
of energy bars.  
  
"Hey, Heero!" his partner called loudly, waving an arm. "Get over   
here!"  
  
Heero just glanced up from his text and shook his head once before   
returning to pretending to study, knowing very well that Duo could see him.   
The other boy pouted adorably, but returned to the dubious items on his   
tray called 'Tuna Surprise'. No one wanted to know the surprise. No one but   
Duo.  
  
Since the incident in the rain, Heero had found himself watching his   
partner more often. That single night had convinced him that he didn't know   
nearly as much as he would have liked to about Duo. It bothered him, like   
an itch he couldn't reach. So he stood back and observed the pilot of   
Deathscythe, removing himself from the immediacy of life with Duo. What he   
found only confused him, and made him want to know more.   
  
He had noticed that Duo never made a noise when moving, except when   
it was a complete accident or intentional. Similarly, he tended to hug   
walls whenever possible. There was a small, inexpensive case of lock picks   
that he kept in his shoe and another set that was in his hair. They   
received more attention than Heero's laptop did. Both looked old and worn,   
but the former thief religiously polished them once a week or more, and   
Heero had yet to understand why.  
  
Another thing that had been dutifully noted by the pilot of Wing was   
the blueberry scented shampoo and conditioner used every second or third   
day in a half-hour long ritual of showering. It was an inexpensive brand   
that came in extremely large quantities, which explained it's use. What it   
didn't explain was the matching soap. What stuck in Heero's mind was the   
odd, almost flowery fragrance that joined the blueberry when it dried. The   
change in odor was probably due to the cheapness of the items, but seemed   
to fit Duo well. Heero could locate his partner in a dark, abandoned   
building by that scent alone.  
  
It was the little things that he found himself paying the most   
attention to. The way he tossed his braid, or the color his eyes turned   
when studying history. Even the way Duo tilted his chin when cleaning his   
gun made shivers run down Heero's spine. The well trained assassin in him   
told him that becoming too curious about anyone was not a good idea, and   
likely to get him killed. He ignored it. Somehow, discovering what made Duo   
Maxwell who he was had developed into the most important thing in his life.   
And Heero had too few important things in his life to let go of this one.  
  
***  
  
Paper was strewn across the floor and both of their beds when Heero   
returned from his last class. On the bed, Duo was diligently scribbling on   
another piece of paper, chewing on the end of his braid carefully. Beside   
him a Colt was laid out on the comforter, ready to be loaded. A large   
supply of spare ammunition was already out.  
  
Duo didn't even bother to meet Heero's eyes as he checked his gun and   
loaded it, slipping the light weight weapon in his ankle holster. Heero   
didn't doubt that he had already stored several others. "Mission," the boy   
who called himself Death commented briefly, slipping some small slivers of   
wire into his braid in place of the much-cherished set that was usually   
there.  
  
Heero's eyebrows twitched; it was sooner than he had been expecting.   
"Mission statement?"  
  
A delicate chin jerked at a particular pile of information. "Arrived   
airmail," he explained. "We're supposed to burn it. Immediate evacuation of   
the area for this one." He went back to studying whatever it was he was   
looking at so intently, avoiding Heero's questioning gaze.   
  
The sapphire eyed boy cast a tiny glare in the braided one's   
direction, but moved to pick up the mission statement. It was a simple get   
in-go boom-get out job, on a fairly insignificant base. They were to leak   
some of OZ's less people friendly projects to the United Earth Press, but   
that was all that out of the ordinary.  
  
"They need both of us for this?" Heero snorted in derision. "Even you   
could pull this one off alone," he grumbled sourly, dropping the stack in a   
neat pile on the desk.  
  
For the first time since lunch, Duo looked directly at him. His eyes   
were cold and hard, a small swirl of hurt tinting his eyes bluer than their   
normal dark purplish-blue that reminded Heero of a storm at twilight, just   
before it rained. "It's what we do," he told his partner harshly. "So stop   
bitching and dig out that monster you call a laptop and get to work on   
covering out tails."  
  
Heero, who had already been on his way to the computer, hesitated   
midstride. He half-turned to look at the boy on the bed, who was watching   
him from under his fringe of bangs. "Duo, what's wrong?"  
  
The dark eyes that Heero couldn't seem to classify as a single solid   
color slid away from his own, looking fixedly at Heero's left eyebrow.   
"It's nothing."  
  
Heero stared at him silently, eyes lidded and face calm. Finally, he   
turned to the laptop and began to type, fingers blurring over the keyboard.   
When that was done, he changed into his usual spandex and tank top and   
headed towards the door. He paused.  
  
"I'm going to the office to wipe our records," Heero explained   
quietly, hand resting on the door knob. He glanced at Duo, who was still   
working on whatever it was, waiting for a reply.  
  
"Hn." The slight shoulders trembled a little at the grunt, but   
otherwise Duo made no move.  
  
"Duo?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't lie to me again." The door closed as Heero ghosted out into   
the darkened halls.  
  
Tears glimmered in the corner of Duo's eyes as he looked up in time   
to see a vanishing green-clad back.  
***  
  
The mission went smoothly. Duo placed the explosives while Heero   
hacked the system. It didn't even require the Gundams to accomplish, and   
the sole OZ casualties (pre-blast) were a pair of guards that chose the   
wrong moment to turn a corner. They were a good mile out into the country   
when the explosions went off, illuminating the bottom of the incoming   
clouds. The sound echoed off the sky, crashing like lightning. By the time   
the fires had been put out, the quarter moon was brightening the tops of   
the trees as they sped along on motorcycles, vanishing into the shadows.  
  
*** 


	3. Story 02: The Storm 02

The Storm 2/3  
Story II of "Chasing Down the Moon"  
Rating: PG  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: ..? Not to my knowledge  
Warnings: shounen ai, tiny angst, lil' humor  
By Moon Faery  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass  
from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not  
own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However,  
this story line and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to  
her.) Grrrr....  
  
Author Notes: I have decided! This is going to be a  
series. I may turn it into an Arc, so don't get mad at me  
yet. We'll see how you guys respond. If you really like it  
(and TELL me so), then an entire Arc will be created!  
(Well, there go all those other fics I was working on...  
Oh, well. ^-^) So respond! PLEASE?  
***  
  
Duo played hopscotch with Heero on their motorcycles as  
they raced down the interstate under the gathering clouds.  
His bad mood fell far behind as he threw himself into the  
moment, concentrating on the wind snapping his braid like a  
whip and the power thrumming between his legs.[1] Heero  
dodged past him again, and Duo found himself laughing. The  
hurt and neglect faded to a dull ache in his chest, still,  
painful but he could ignore it.  
  
Heero's silvery colored bike slowed down enough to pull  
beside Duo's crimson one. Heero jerked his head at an  
upcoming rest stop, and the braided one nodded regretfully.  
He already missed the carefree moment, knowing  
subconciously that he was likely to get few like it in the  
future.  
  
They turned off the main highway onto the shadowed lane.  
The rest area was deserted when they pulled into the  
parking lot; it looked like they were the first people to  
even see it in weeks. Trash dotted the cement, and there  
was only one lamp still working. It flickered in the final  
throes of death, barely holding onto the ghost. Even the  
crickets were silent, apparently having gone into hiding at  
their approach.  
  
After parking his bike, Duo grabbed a seat on one of the  
better-concealed picnic tables, eyes hidden as he watched  
his partner approach in the darkness. A brief flash of  
sheet lightning illuminated the scene from above,  
reflecting back the deep blue of Heero's eyes as he slid  
onto the table beside Duo.  
  
"Why'd we stop?" the chestnut-haired boy asked quietly,  
toying with the tassle on his braid absently, eyes locked  
on the suddenly fascinating piece of hair. "Weren't we  
supposed to meet Quatre?"  
  
He could feel Heero's eyes on him like a lead weight.  
Finally, the other boy looked away, much to Duo's relief.  
"Not until you tell me what's wrong."  
  
"I told you," Duo snapped, raising his head to glare at  
the offending pilot.  
  
"No you didn't." The simple reply was pacient, showing  
only hints of Heero's usual uncaring monotone. "You said  
it's nothing."  
  
"It is." Duo truned his glare to the ground, desperately  
trying not to cry in front of Heero. The wind began to grow  
stronger, making the trees whistle sharply.  
  
"Duo, if it's bothering you, it's not nothing." There was  
a faint rustle of cloth as Heero slid over until his hip  
was brushing the loose black jeans that the other boy wore,  
leaning closer to hear his response over the noise of the  
coming storm.  
  
"You wouldn't understand, Heero." Unconciously, Duo  
shifted closer to the warmth at his side.  
  
"Why wouldn't I?"  
  
"It's just... I..." Duo took a ragged breath, almost  
chocking around the lump in his throat. The rain began to  
patter silently down, falling silently down his cheeks and  
hiding the tears. They glittered in the darkness as they  
dripped down Duo's chin infat drops. "Did you stop just to  
nag me?"  
  
Heero blinked. That was not the response he had been  
expecting. "Duo..."  
  
"Look, Heero," the pale American stood up and glared at  
his partner, acid lacing his voice. "We're not far enough  
away from the base we just blew to stop for chit-chat." He  
spun around on one heel and stalked back to his bike. "You  
can wait here and risk your skin if you want, but I'm outta  
here."  
  
He watched as Duo left, eyes dark. Heero suddenly  
realized that he still had a lot to learn about Duo Maxwell.  
  
***  
  
"Honey, we're home!" Duo dumped his bag beside the door  
of the apartment, were it immediately began to make a large  
wet spot on the cheap brown carpet. Behind him entered  
Heero, thoroughly drenched and seriously reconsidering his  
newfound liking of wet weather.  
  
"Guys? I'm in the kitchen!" Quatre's voice carried to  
them. "Are you hungry? I'll make up some plates."  
  
Pilots 01 and 02 both went pale and memories of previous  
meals made by Quatre flooded back. "NO!" they yelled in  
unison, dropping everything and dashing for the kitchen.  
They rounded the corner to slip on time-smoothed linoleum,  
sending the two of them into one pile of arms, legs and  
soaking wet clothing. Heero found himself wrapped around a  
squirming Maxwell. Unaccountably, he blushed faintly, then  
scolded himself. There was nothing to blush about!  
  
The little blonde pilot peered curiously at them, blowing  
his white-gold bangs out of his eyes. "Are you sure? The  
chinese place just delivered it a few minutes ago."  
  
Duo just stared up at Quatre blankly. "You didn't cook?"  
he finally asked, blinking rapidly.  
  
"At this time of night?" Quatre asked reasonably, turning  
around to scoop some rice out of a box. "Get up off the  
floor; I'll make the plates for you before it gets cold."  
  
***  
  
Quatre shooed Heero and Duo off to bed as soon as they  
had finished eating, then collapsed on the small loveseat  
in the den tiredly. He stared at the half-empty cartons  
visible on the counter dully for a second, and decided that  
clean up could wait until morning. Luckily, there were  
three small bedrooms in the apartment he'd rented under a  
false identity, using 'liberated' OZ funds. They'd each  
have their own room, with space for their clothes and a  
twin bed, if not much else.  
  
And with the way Heero and Duo were acting, it was  
probably best that they were seperated. He couldn't  
remember the last time he'd felt such tension in one room,  
and the glares Duo had kept shooting at Heero hadn't helped  
an iota. It was almost like a lover's quarrel.  
  
'Aa, sure, Quatre. Heero and Duo lovers...' Some very  
interesting images flashed through his mind's eye, making  
him blush. 'Stop that! You need to get some sleep, and that  
won't help.'  
  
'Even though they would look adorable together.'  
  
"God defend me from friends and loved ones," the small  
pilot groaned, yawning widely and snuggling into the worn  
couch cushions. Quatre let his eyes slide shut 'for just a  
minute or two...'  
  
***  
  
Duo tossed and turned on the small twin bed, kicking off  
the stiffling comfortor that was at least three sizes too  
large. He switched positions again, punching his starched  
white pillow in annoyance before flipping over onto his  
side. Something was subtly wrong with the room, and it was  
driving him slowly insane.  
  
The silence was so thick it seemed like a blanket  
suffocating him. Something was missing...  
  
Breathing, that's what it was. They had been enrolled in  
the last school they'd infiltrated for a little over three  
months, and he'd gotten used to hearing Heero's little  
noises as he fell asleep, including his breathing. Now that  
they were gone, he couldn't concentrate on falling asleep,  
or even relaxing enough to rest a little.  
  
'Damnit! I don't need anything from him!' Duo snarled  
mentally, curling into an L shape, his back to his pillow.  
'Nothin'!'  
  
It was a long, sleepless night.  
***  
  
Heero sat on his bed, leaning back against the wall. His  
battered black laptop was resting on his knees, but it  
wasn't even turned on. His eyes were focused blankly on the  
dead screen, not even registering what he was looking at.  
  
'What's wrong with him?' Heero wondered, irritably  
pushing a strand of messy hair out of his eyes and raking  
it back into the rest of his hair. It immediately fell back  
down to tickle his nose. 'There's no reason for this  
illogical behavior, even considering Duo's usual state of  
mind.'  
  
Unthinkingly, he scrolled down the screen, still staring  
at it. 'Worse, he nearly let it interfere with a mission.  
Unacceptable.' He clicked a link, ocean blue eyes scanning  
down the page without seeing it. 'I'll have to deal with  
the problem, before he gets himself killed by being  
distracted at the wrong moment.'  
  
A light knock sounded at his door.  
"Come in," Heero called, wondering absently why he had  
said it quietly. It wasn't like Duo woke up easily or  
anything.  
  
Quatre slipped into the room, closing the door behind  
him. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, a small frown curling his  
lips down. I noticed the light under your door, and thought  
we could talk," he explained, leaning back against the  
flimsy plywood door.   
  
"About what?" He glanced at the short blonde stoically,  
noting the rumpled state of his clothing. 'He must have  
fallen asleep on the couch after we went to bed.'  
  
The Winner heir gnawed on his lower lip. "Heero, what's  
going on between you and Duo?" he asked bluntly, staring  
intently at the boy on the bed. "I know you two usually  
don't get along that well, but dinner was just... extreme."  
He shook his head a little.  
  
"I don't know," Heero answered honestly, shrugging  
slightly.  
  
His earlier thoughts came back to haunt him. "Are you  
sure of that?"  
  
The question made Heero tilt his head to the side  
curiously. "What do you mean?"  
  
Quatre's creamy complexion turned pink with  
embarrassment. "Well... Umm..." He kept blushing a deeper  
shade of crimson. He squirmed, lowering his gaze to where  
he was twisting his T-shirt. "I was just thinking... Ah...  
Did you and... Did you and Duo have sex?" Quatre finally  
blurted out, slapping himself in the face. 'Yeah, real  
smooth, Winner.'  
  
Heero's jaw fell open slightly. "What did you just say?"  
he asked, blinking rapidly. He was, for once, at a complete  
loss.  
  
Quatre squirmed some more. "Well, I just thought..." He  
turned a brighter red. "Forget I said anything," he  
muttered, making a swift exit, blushing brighter with every  
step.  
  
The pilot of Wing watched his retreating back, still in  
shock. 'Duo and I... lovers?' He snorted, turning back to  
his laptop. 'Not likely.' The blank screen stared back at  
him. "Didn't I have this turned on?"  
  
***  
  
Duo glared into his untouched, soggy cheerios blearily,  
hair sticking out at all downward angles. [2] He hadn't  
slept at all the night before, and it showed in his red-  
rimmed eyes and the battered remains of what had once been  
a pillow that was on his bed. Across from him, both Quatre  
and Heero were being disgustingly awake morning people, even  
to the point of actually eating breakfast. It was not  
helping his mood one bit.  
  
"We don't have to go to school," Quatre was explaining  
cheerfully, taking a bite of fried egg that Heero had  
cooked. The batch Quatre had tried to make had somehow  
exploded; probably because he put it in the microwave  
without even taking it out of the shell. Now they needed a  
new microwave. "So we won't have the problem of working  
around students and administration for once."  
  
"Aa," Heero remarked, sipping some coffee that had so  
much milk it was nearly white. However, there was no sugar  
in it whatso ever. Duo would have thought that Heero would  
drink it black with sugar, or even just straight, but he  
had long ago learned not to expect anything from Heero Yuy.  
Nothing, especially not the slightest bit of attention. The  
stray thought made him frown more.  
  
"Hn," the sleep-deprived God of Death grunted, stirring  
his cereal. He worked up the energy to look darkly at Heero  
for a second, but it took too much energy to be angry at  
Yuy so early in the morning. He switched his stare to the  
cheerios again, watching as yet another soaked up too much  
milk and broke into pieces.  
  
"Duo, are you okay?" Quatre asked, frowning and munching  
on a freshly peeled orange, the one thing he was able to  
make without too much help.  
  
In answer, Duo just growled and shoved his chair back. He  
dumped his cereal down the garbage disposal and washed the  
bowl.  
  
"Duo?.." the blonde asked again.  
  
"Sleep." That said, the braided one went back to his  
room, slamming the door.  
  
Heero frowned. Duo hadn't even touched his coffee, even  
though it was just as he liked it; black with two teaspoon  
fulls of sugar. He added another note to his "Big List of  
Duo Maxwell".  
  
"Heero..." Quatre bit into his orange, chewing  
thoughtfully. "Maybe you should-"  
  
He was cut off by Heero. "After he gets some sleep. He  
was tossing all night long." The toussled-haired boy took  
his empty plate to the kitchen, and then retired to his  
bedroom, planning on doing some more work,[3] leaving  
Quatre alone in the kitchen.  
  
The little golden haired Winner growled and took another  
bite of egg. 'They had sex, I just know it.'  
  
***  
  
[1] I just couldn't resist!  
  
[2] Look Ma! Footnotes! Actually, if you've ever had long  
hair and a night of tossing and turning, you'll probably  
know what I'm talking about. Like short-haired people, the  
hair sticks out everywhere, but the weight pulls it all  
down, except for the bangs and shorter hairs. It looks kind  
of like a well-used feather duster or a broom pointed down.  
  
[3] Read: Staring blankly at his laptop while thinking  
about Duo.  
  
[4] I promise to keep the footnote level lower in future  
fics! 


	4. Story 02: The Storm 03

The Storm 3/3  
Story II of "Chasing Down the Moon"  
Rating: PG  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: ..? Not to my knowledge  
Warnings: shounen ai, tiny angst, lil' humor  
By Moon Faery  
Archived: Moon Faery's Garden (http://www.geocities.com/moon_faerys_garden/); FFN (http://www.fanfiction.net); Kiss of Death [my new site!] (http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/kissofdeath/); anywhere else that asks nicely.  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However, this story line and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....  
  
Author Notes: I recently graduated high school, so I'll have more time to work on my writing between now and college! ^^V This means that the next part of this series will be out sooner than I usually post. I appologize for the second-rateness of this part. ^^;; I hit a bit of writer's block, and only barely managed to chisle my way out of it.  
  
I noticed that Duo's mood swings are a bit extreme in this fic. I'm afraid to admit that I think I feminized him. I didn't mean to, but that's how he's comming across to me. I have absolutly no excuse or reason for this, and I appologize if I accidentally threw Duo Out of Character. If this is the case, PLEASE tell me, and I'll throw it away and rewrite from scratch. However, to head off questions, Duo is not PMSing. And YES, Heero really is that clueless. Not that he's stupid, per se, just that he's not paying attention to the things close to home as much as he should be.  
  
***  
  
Duo blinked fuzily at the golden light shining directly through his westward facing window, peering up through a crack in his blanket. The sun was beginning its descent, reminding Duo's stomach that it had't gotten any of that morning's cheerios. It protested the abuse, growling loudly. Grumbling, he slipped from the bed and out the door, mumbling about traitorous body parts interupting nice dreams.  
  
Quatre was puttering around the generic white kitchenet with a mop and a sponge. Every appliance had been move out of the tiny space, even the refridgerator. He could only assume that Heero had been the one to move everything, since it had been agreed that Quatre was no longer alowed to anything electronic in the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, Q," Duo yawned, waving absently as he dug through the slowing warming fridge for something eatable. He grabbed a red apple and took a large bite, slamming the door.  
  
"Hi, Duo!" Quatre chirped, wiping some dust off the tip of his nose. "Sorry about the refrigerator; I got bored and had to do something." He grinned and went back to scrubbing down the counter. "Did you have a good nap?"  
  
Violet eyes rolled at the word "nap". "More like coma, Quate," he snorted. "And yeah, I did. I had the most interesting dream..." His long brown hair, still unbrushed, swayed around his hips as he shook his head in wonderment.  
  
"Oh?" The little blonde glanced up from his work. "What type of dream?"  
  
The currently unbraided one flushed up to his hairline, eyes glazing over slightly.  
  
***FLASHBACK TO DREAM SEQUENCE***  
  
Intense eyes glinted invitingly from behind yards of semi-sheer blue and amethyst colored curtains. They were almsot hidden by locks of hair who's color behind the hangings was indistinguishable as anything other than dark. He pushed his way through the clinging silk, every step pushing him closer to the barely-visible figure who's nudity was convientiently blurred by the sheer draperies. He reached out to push aside the last curtain...  
  
***END FLASHBACK TO DREAM SEQUENCE***  
  
"Quate..." Duo blinked, refocusing his eyes and trying desperately to push down the blush. "I really don't..."  
  
His reaction didn't get past the small Arabian. Quatre's wicked streak reminded him that it hadn't been exercised lately. He grinned evilly and went to the sink to rinse off his hands. "Of course, I understand perfectly Duo. I'll stop working and listen." He grabbed a towel and dried his hands. "I'm about ready for a break anyways; I'm fed up to here," he guestured to his forehead, "with cleaning."  
  
Duo blushed darker. "Really, Quate, it's nothing!" he protested, backing away, apple clutched loosely in his hand. "I'm just... uh, going to go get dressed now!" Duo turned and ran, metaphorical tail tucked between his legs.  
  
The Winner heir waited until he heard Duo's door slam and lock before falling against the counter, laughing so hard his sides hurt.  
  
***  
  
Heero looked up from his work cleaning his gun when he heard Duo's voice outside his room. Seconds later there was the sound of feet rapidly running down the hall and a door shutting. He carefully set aside his gun and cracked his bedroom door, looking out with one blue eye as Quatre's slightly breathless laughter drifted up to him. It rose and fell like some obscure musical piece, echoing disturbingly off the drywall, creating an effect Heero could only liken to mad scientists in old 2D movies.  
  
"Quatre?" he asked, stepping out into the hall silently. The laughter paused as the petite boy gasped for breath before beginning again. He was starting to sound hoarse. In spite of himself, Heero began to worry about the blonde pilot's sanity. He padded out into the main room on bare feet, peering around the corner of the hallway as though expecting an attack. Quatre waved at him blindly before moving the arm back to clutch at his stomach.  
  
One eyebrow raised slightly at the blonde's antics, but Heero just shook his head and turned around. Whatever had set the pilot of Sandrock off could eb determined later. What was imortant, however, was that Duo had finally woken up. With a purposeful stride, he moved down the hall and knocked on Duo's door.  
  
***  
  
Duo dug around in the small gym bag that held his belongings, dressed only in a pair of form-fitting black jean cut off shorts. A slight blush still stained his cheeks, but he'd decided that staying embarrassed would just give Quatre a chance to tease him again. So he concentrated on doing what he said he'd do: getting dressed.  
  
Frowning, he pulled two shirts out the bag, his only clean ones. "Hm... black t-shirt or black priest's shirt?" He held one up higher than the other. "Black?" Switching the positions of the shirts, he looked at it closely. "Or black? Black or black?" So soon after waking, it was a difficult desicion, one that he was to kick himself later for debating over.  
  
Something knocked on his door. Freezing, the God of Death eyed the door with studied mistrust. The knock came again, slightly louder, but with the military precision that announced louder than a death threat who it was. Rather than being relieved that it wasn't a certain blonde with a death wish, Duo's eyes narrowed dangerously.  
  
"Just when I was getting into a good mood," he grumbled under his breath, stomping over to the door and ripping it open, barely remembering to unlock it in time. "What do YOU want?" he demanded of Heero, who was leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe.   
  
Heero looked back at him, the usually icy glare for once reasonably nuetral. His breath hitched slightly at the sight of Duo in the doorway, eyes flashing and wearing a pair of shorts that should have been much longer, by Heero's estimation. Luckily, the braided pilot never noticed. "To talk," he answered simply, shouldering his way into the small room and doing his best to regain his composure.  
  
'It's just Duo,' he chided himself mentally, turning to face the other boy with his arms crossed.  
  
"There's nothing to talk about," Duo muttered, glaring at him. "Get out of my room."  
  
"No."  
  
If anything, the glare intensified. Eyes that were usually a cheery violet turned to an icy hard indigo. "No?" he repeated softly, voice cold. "It's my room, Yuy." Duo wasn't even aware of why he was so angry. Heero ignored him all the time; a slight increase in the lack of attention was nothing to hold a grudge over. The logical part of his brain busily pointed out that what he was doing was potentially suicidal, generally stupid, and had no point other than to release emotions that had no reason to exist in the first place. His emotional side was busily shouting that part down, reminding him of how pissed he was. As usual, emotion won. "Get out."  
  
Heero shook his head, staring at the wall over Duo's bare shoulder and doing his best to keep his attitude professional. 'Telling him how much it bothers me will only make it worse,' he reasoned. Duo wouldn't appreciate him getting upset about the matter as well. "Duo, you're mad about something. This emotional instability of yours going to do nothing except get you killed if it keeps up." He was pleased with how calm that sounded. Duo was sure to see the logic in his argument, and forget whatever it was that was bothering him, or at least set it aside.  
  
For a second, something flashed across Duo's features, but it was hidden to quickly for Heero to even guess at what it had been. "Oh?" Duo snorted softly, voice calm. "So my 'emotional instability' is a detriment to the mission, hm?"  
  
The pilot of Wing nodded, grateful that Duo seemed to be seeing reason. He didn't even notice Duo's fingers twitching towards where his gun was usally stored. If he had, he might have tried a different tactic. "I'm glad you understand the problem."  
  
Duo was nodding to himself in time to his own thoughts. "Oh yes, I see the problem," he commented, staring directly at Heero. His reasonable tone was at odds with the barely supressed fury that was making his slender frame tremble. "The problem is that you are an uncaring, egotistical sonovabitch, and an IDIOT too! THAT'S what the problem is!" He stormed over to the toussle-headed pilot, grabbing him by the shirt and bodily throwing him over his shoulder, sending the perfect soldier tumbling out into the hall before he could stop himself.  
  
"Do me a favor, Yuy," Duo snarled from inside the bedroom. "Next time, go find someone ELSE to screw with when you wanna talk, 'kay?" The door slammed loudly in Heero's face.  
  
Heero stared blankly off into space for several minutes before finally coming back to his senses. "What the hell was that about?" he asked the door in Japanese. The door, of course, didn't answer. They rarely do.  
  
***  
  
Quatre, who had finally gotten over his amusement, kneeled down by Heero's side. "What's he mad about now?"  
  
Heero shook his head, still sprawled on the floor. "I don't know."  
  
The blonde Winner grimaced. "Let me rephrase that. What did you do?" he asked, joining the floored boy in staring blankly at Duo's door.  
  
"I told him that he was a detriment to the mission," Heero answered, frowning to himself minutely. "There was no reason for him to..."  
  
"Explode?" Quatre asked helpfully, shaking his head in exasperation. "Heero, Duo was right. You're an idiot." Getting up, he went to his own room and locked himself in. There had to be a book he could read; Heero and Duo's sex life was beginning to wear him out.[1]  
  
***  
  
Eventually, the morning breath flavor in Duo's mouth drove him out of his sanctuary and to the bathroom for some mouthwash and a good brushing. He threw on the T-shirt and crept out of his room. Luckily, he didn't encounter Heero. No matter how mad Duo was, he wasn't sure he wanted to face the other boy after litterally tossing him out of his room. Encouraged by not meeting his current arch-nemisis, Duo expanded his path to include a stop by the kitchen, which had been put back in order. Quatre was there, pouring himself a cup of cola from a can.  
  
"Hi, Quate," Duo managed to say semi-sociably, pulling some left-over chinese out and digging through the container with a fork.  
  
"Hello, Duo," Quatre answered, putting the can in the trash. "Care to explain why I found Heero in the hallway, staring at your door and muttering in Japanese?"  
  
Duo grimaced, but reminded himself that it wasn't Quatre he was angry with. "Not really." He took a large bite of fried rice, tucking it inside of one cheek so he could talk without making a mess. "It's kinda personal."  
  
The blonde nodded understandingly and took a sip of his drink. "Whatever you want, but you really should work it out with him."  
  
"Hn," Duo grunted. "'Snot like he cares or anything," he grumbled sourly, poking an unidentified fried something-or-other with his fork.  
  
Quatre just shook his head and resigned himself to the situation. Heero was going to have to fix this one on his own. "Whatever you say, Duo."  
  
***  
  
Heero was sitting on his bed, laptop stored neatly underneath it. He was staring intently at the floor, chewing on his lip in an unconcious habit he wasn't aware of having picked up. Mentally, he reviewed every piece of information he had on his partner, trying to pinpoint the moment when Duo's mood began to alter. No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn't find a cause for the shift. Frowning, he put the matter aside, promising himself that he'd figure out whatever it was after he finished reading up on recent explosives developments. Digging through his bag, his fingers brushed something that was out of place. Surprised, he pulled the soft cloths Duo used to polish his lock picks out of his duffle bag.  
  
'Hn. He must not have had room in his own,' he mused, setting them on the pillow. 'That's odd. He should have used them this morning; it's been a while since...' Heero blinked, doing a quick count of the days that had passed been since Duo's picks recieved attention. It had been well over the usual week. With a determined scowl, he picked up the cloths and marched off to Duo's room.  
  
The door was open, and Duo wasn't inside. A cough behind him made him spin around, the tiny squares of fabric clutched in his hand. Duo scowled at him. "Looking for someone, Yuy?"  
  
"You left these in my bag," Heero said stiffly, shoving the polishing rags at the other boy.  
  
Duo took them unenthusiastically, beautiful violet eyes flat and slightly tinged with a stormy shade of gray. He examined the cloths for damage, not meeting Heero's gaze. "Thanks." He didn't sound like he meant it.  
  
The blue-eyed teenager gave himself a mental shake. His determination from earlier fled, leaving the usually composed pilot grasping for words. "Well... I thought you'd need them. It's been over a week since you used polished that one set of lock picks."  
  
Duo glanced up, suprised. "You noticed?" The icy hostility that had encased him began to melt.  
  
Without really stopping to think about his answer, Heero nodded. "It's hard not to," he answered truthfully.  
  
For the first time all day, Duo grinned brightly at Heero. "Thank you!" He sauntered past the slightly stunned Japanese pilot and through his bedroom door. "'Scuse me, I've got some polishing to do." The door slammed with its usual energy, but somehow it lacked the angry edge it had earlier.  
  
"NOW what did I do?" Heero asked it. Once again, the door didn't bother to answer.  
  
***OWARI***  
  
[1] Only note; I promise! Yes, Quatre still thinks they slept together. 


	5. Story 03: Comforting

Comforting  
Story III of "Chasing Down the Moon"  
Rating: PG13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: ..? Not to my knowledge  
Warnings: budding shounen ai, suggested NCS, violence, blood, minor language  
By Moon Faery  
Archived: Moon Faery's Garden (http://www.geocities.com/moon_faerys_garden/); FFN (http://www.fanfiction.net); Kiss of Death [my new site!] (http://www.angelfire.com/gundam/kissofdeath/); anywhere else that asks nicely.  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However, this story line and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....  
  
Author Notes: Bwhahahahaaa!!! The attraction starts! And I actually tried to include some actual action/adventure stuff for once. Quatre's a bit more... violent than I'd usually give him credit for, but I think it suits him well in this particular case. ^^;; I appologize for any mental trauna suffered by reading this fic. Especially to the guys.  
***  
  
Seated at the kitchen table, Duo measured distance between two points on a map, doing some quick math. A stick of men's pocky stuck out of one side of his mouth, teasing the strands of hair that had escaped his braid to curl around his jaw and cheek. At his elbow a digital clock beeped out the hour.  
  
"What time is it?" Quatre mumbled, raising his head up from his own work. His dark teal eyes were rimmed by red, evidence of a long night hard at work. On the couch Heero didn't even bother to look up from his laptop, which was steadily pumping information from OZ's most secret files.  
  
"Just turned three, Quate," Duo answered, raising his arms in a spine-cracking stretch. His cropped tee shirt rode up on his stomach, showing a large amount of lower ribcage and milky skin.  
  
"Tell me again why I insisted on this?" the little blonde asked, taking a gulp of his coffee, which had long since gone cold.  
  
"You wanted to get the information at night, when the guards manually monitering the system would be paying the least attention," Heero reminded him, jaw tensing slightly as he fought the urge to yawn. "I've got the guard rotation schedule printing out."  
  
"Mmhm," Quatre nodded, blinking fuzzily, eyes a little unfocused. "Oh-kay, now all we have to do is..." He trailed off, yawning hugely. "Um, what was I saying?"  
  
Duo poked him in the ribs with a pencil. "Maybe you should hit the sack, Quate," he suggested gently.  
  
The blonde blinked, letting his head sink down until it was pillowed on his crossed forearms. "Oh, no, I just need a to rest my eyes..." He went limp.  
  
From his perch on the edge of the sofa, Heero raised an eyebrow. "Should we leave him?" he wondered softly.  
  
The braid waved as Duo shook his head negatively. "No, he'll get a crick in his neck." Carefully, he picked the sleeping pilot up, performing some manuevers that had even Heero impressed in his attempt to avoid bumping into anything. The little Winner sighed and shifted his weight, snuggling into Duo's side. The braided Death smiled gently, eyes strangely soft as he looked down on the sleeping boy. For some reason, a shiver ran down Heero's spine, and his heart began to beat a bit harder. "Hey, Heero, get the door for me, will ya?" he whispered.  
  
Heero did as he was asked, frowning a little as Duo slid through the entryway sideways with that same off look on his face. The covers on the twin sized bed were already pulled back, so Duo laid Quatre down and pulled off his shoes before tucking the blankets around him. The little blonde smiled and relaxed more, snuggling into the covers up to the bridge of his nose. Duo ruffled Quatre's white-gold hair and kissed his forehead before slipping silently out of the room, leaving pilot zero-one to shut the door behind him.  
  
Back in the main room of the apartment, the Japanese assassin eyed the braided one out of the corner of one blue eye as the other boy started to organize the papers that were spread hapahazardly over the kitchen table. Duo moved the smooth grace that people tended to use when trying to keep from waking another person. He finally recognized the look on his face. It was pure serenity, a look he'd never seen on any person in their particular group before, even on Quatre.  
  
"You liked putting him in bed?" Heero asked quietly, feeling the obscure need to know more that always seemed to plague him when he was around Duo Maxwell.  
  
Duo looked up from straightening the last stack of papers, almost as though he had forgotten Heero was there. "Sure I did," he replied, cocking his head to the side curiously. "Haven't you ever tucked someone in?"  
  
Heero thought about that for a moment, eyes narrowing in thought. "No, I haven't."   
  
Duo smiled again, his eyes getting that soft look that twisted something inside the stoic Japanese pilot. "You should try it sometime. It's..." He paused, searching for the word. "It's comforting."  
  
"For who?"  
  
"For you." The look on Duo's face took on a mysterious aspect. "Good night, Heero." He set down the papers and vanished into the shadows of the hallway. Heero was left staring into the darkness, battling that feeling that he'd missed something. Again.  
  
***  
  
Bright noontime sunlight streamed in through the north-facing window as Heero poured over the blueprints that they had printed out the night before. He silently wished that Trowa or Wufei were there instead of him. Hightly trained though he was, he had never quite mastered the art of picking out easy entry-ways like the other pilots had. But Wufei was taking out a certain official in old Russia, and Trowa was spot checking OZ security from within, leaving Heero to deal with the maps and guard rotations. He would have had Quatre do it, but the Winner heir was busy planning their attack, and Duo was locating supplies on the black market.  
  
"Hey, man," a soft voice said behind him. Something in a large brown paper sack was set down on the carpet. "Need a hand?"  
  
"Hn," he grunted, ignoring the tempting length of braid that swung before his nose as Duo leaned over him. Instead he shifted on his stool, making a mental note that the kitchen table was more comfortable than the breakfast bar.  
  
"C'mon, I thought we had you all the way to to sentences!" the American teased mercilessly, draping himself over Heero's shoulder, cheek brushing against Heero's temple. "You're regressing again, pal."  
  
Heero's shoulders tensed minutely at the contact. Warmth pooled in his stomach, which began to twist in an emotion he realized was embarrassment. A blush crept up his bronze-toned skin, but it was ruthlessly squashed. "I don't need help," he clarified, casting a baleful glare at the other boy out of the corner of his eye.  
  
"Ah, a whole sentence!" Duo crowed, giving him a quick hug and the patting his head like a dog. "Good boy. Wanna treat?" Something appeared under Heero's nose so quickly that his eyes crossed. He grabbed it from the braided one, studying it closely.  
  
It was a small earring in the form of a gold loop wrapped carefully in similarly tiny bubblewrap. It was configured oddly, like it was designed to hug the earlobe rather than dangle under it. "An earring," he commented unenthusiastically.  
  
"Yup," Duo said, boucing up from his position on Heero's shoulder. Only quick reflexed saved Heero from being slapped in the face with his braid. "I've got one too, and so does Quate. We've even got attachments!" He held up a large mailing envelope, cuddling it to his body like it was breakable.  
  
"Attachments..." Heero raised an eyebrow, swivling around to stare at the other boy intensely. "And why, exactly, were you out buying jewelry that none of us can wear?"  
  
"I asked him to, Heero," Quatre called from his bedroom. Apparently he'd been listening in to the conversation. "Duo, explain it to him, I'm a little busy!"  
  
The self-proclained God of Death rolled his amethyst eyes. "Yes, mother."  
  
"I HEARD that!"  
  
Heero grinned as Duo's face took on a sullen, pout expression. "Spoil sport." His face immediately brightened back into its usual grin as he settled down on a stool at Heero side, thigh barely brushing the other boy's. Heero shivered, unconciously pressing into the contact. "We each got three different attachments," he explained, pulling three pacakges out of the yellow envelope. "One of them is hollow; it can be filled with a poison of choice. That's the sunburst design." He held up a tiny gold sunburst, etched with silver. "Mine's a starburst, 'cause it's silver. Then there's a recorder; it sends audio back to base for saving." This time, he played with three small crosses, each with tiny differences in the engravings, besides the obvious silver of Duo's against the gold of the other two. "Then we've got the hoops; they're the real useful ones. Scrambling device; they'll confuse anything from heat sensors to dogs. The base earring's a tracker; sends back to the same device as the 'bursts."  
  
Heero eyed the jewelry with distrust. "None of use have pierced ears."  
  
Duo's grin grew wider. "I know," he purred, pulling an earring gun out of the paper bag and brandishing it like a weapon. "Hold still Heero, this'll only hurt for a second."  
  
***  
  
The next week was spent racing from one side of the city to the other, contacting the leaders of various underground organizations and collecting what they needed to complete the mission. False information was planted in the OZ databanks, new identities assumed and plans laid out. After what seemed like months of endless work, everything was finished and the mission was begun.  
  
Heero shrugged deeper into his leather jacket, fighting the urge to scratch at his ear, which was just beginning to heal from its piercing. The tiny cross that dangled from the cuff clinked as he hopped down a pair of dirt-covered staired three at a time. His knees flashed through the ragged rips in his black jeans, which had been artfully slashed over each thigh and beneath his buttocks as well. Depicted in a flashy siver iron-on patch over his heart was a stylized eagle and dagger, the symbol of one of the more troublesome gangs in the area. Specifically, it was the exclusive property of the gang that helped OZ control the streets of the area. The eagle-dagger logo was also etched on the back of his jacket, reflecting even the limited light from overhead lamps.  
  
Behind him jogged Quatre, looking odd in his black on black outfit. Not even the black, silver and blue streaks in his hair or the realistic tattoos that climbed his arms took away from his gentle appearance. However, the large handgun he carried more than made up for it.   
  
Above the grimy alleyway, Duo ghosted from rooftop to rooftop, covered from heat to foot in mottled shades of grey. He blended into the darkness almost perfectly. Even Heero was having trouble tracking the slender pilot's movement.  
  
"We're almost to the base," Quatre murmured from behind him, his voice barely audible. "Ready?"  
  
Heero just nodded, eyes narrowing. They turned a final corner, coming face to face with a pair of OZ guards.   
  
"Hey! What the hell are you two punks doing here?" One of the guards demanded, eyeing the symbol on Heero's jacket nervously. "This is a restricted area!"  
  
Quatre blew a strand of blackened hair out of his eyes, which suddenly looked hard. He stepped in front of Heero, smirking. "We got passes," he claimed arrogantly, voice rougher than normal.  
  
"Sure," the second guard snorted. "And I'm Queen friggin Victoria. Get outta here."  
  
"Really," the blonde insisted. "Show 'em our passes, my man." He waved at Heero and stepped aside. The next thing the OZ soldiers saw was a flash of metal as Heero fired.  
  
The Japanese boy restrained the urge to glance upward for Duo, knowing that he couldn't give away his position. "Which'ne's de'd?" he demanded, slurring so badly that any accent was impossible to pinpoint.  
  
The petite Arabian nudged one of the fallen men in the ribs. "Mark this one."  
  
Kneeling down, Heero pretended relutance as he slid a knife out of his heavy army boot and carved a simplified version of his patch on the dead man's chest. "Dun like da b'sses o'ders," he complained loudly. "Leevin' bodies 'n' sitch alivin'."  
  
"Just do what you're told," Quatre snapped. "I'm in charge, don't forget it."   
  
"Gotcha," the blue-eyed teenager nodded, finishing his work and standing. Blood stained his black leather gloves. "Le's go. 'M dun."  
  
Quatre just growled and strolled past the bodies and into the military compound. Once they were a decent distance from the gate, he slowed down and let Heero draw even. "Do you think the cameras caught that?" he questioned nervously, toying with the sunburst that dangled from one earlobe.  
  
Heero nodded. "They'd better have," he grunted. "Or OZ seriously needs some systems upgrades." He tugged his jacket, which felt at least three sizes too large. "If I went through this for nothing, I'm killing someone."  
  
The blonde grinned and tucged a piece of blue hair out of his eyes. "I know."  
  
"Are you guys going to go kill ol' prince what's his face, or do I have to babysit you while you sit here and chat?" a voice asked from out of nowhere. Duo's face appeared in front of them upside dow. He was hanging by his knees from an out-of-comission overhead lamp. "Ya know, I have some things to blow up, but I guess I could change my plans if you really need me to..." His eyes were dancing, glittering wickedly in the darkness.  
  
Two icy glares attempted to send the American thief up in flames. "Go away," both Quatre and Heero hissed sharply.  
  
Duo shook with supressed laughter. "Whoa, stereo effect," he grinned. "Fine; I'm off to make some chaos. See ya later." He folded upwards and vanished into the shadows.  
  
The heir to Winner Inc. grinned widely. "That's Duo for you," he commented. "Let's go frame some people, shall we?"  
  
***  
  
Duo skulked through the shadows around the warehouse, slipping between piles of boxes and high explosives. Here and there he attached a small device, tapped a sequence on the miniature keypad and moved on. So far, dozens of the devices had been planted in various places in the compound. He armed the last one and adjusted his earphone. 'C'mon, guys. Don't let me down now.'  
  
A footstep from behind him broke the silence. "Hey!" A body slammed into him, sending the ex-streetrat crashing to the floor. His head cracked loudly against the cement, making his vision blur, but he managed to roll out from under his attacker and kick him him the kneecap. The man went down with a curse. Pinning the other man against the flor, Duo snapped his neck.  
  
The braided one stood shakily, leaning on the boxes beside him. He waited a few minutes, and then dragged the body out of sight. Corpse hidden, he made his way out of the complex, head ringing.  
  
***  
  
His Royal Highness, the Prince Edgin of the Unified American Continents (only five times removed from the throne, if it still existed) woke up to find a knife pressed to his throat. He froze, extra chins quivering in his attempt to stay still. His plaything of the evening had been tied up by one of the oddly concientious attackers. She watched from a corner of the room, blankly uncaring. One of her large brown eyes was nearly swollen shut from a just-purpling black eye, and a cut on her cheek had cracked open to drip blood onto the sheet that one of the attackers had thrown over her for modesty's sake.  
  
"You didn't say anything about her," Heero hissed at Quatre while holding the knife. Edgin, who didn't speak ancient Arabic, couldn't understand a word of it.  
  
Quatre glared at Heero. "How was I supposed to know he'd have a girl in his room?" he demanded in the same language, grimacing as he worked his tongue around the unfamiliar sylables. He'd never been very good at speaking dead languages. "Muchless have one handcuffed to the bed?"   
  
"She's a witness," Heero insisted hotly. "We'll have to eliminate her." The knife slipped a little, drawing a line of blood from the fat man's neck. Edgin whimpered and tried to press down deeper into the bed.   
  
"After everything she's been through?" The blonde shook his head irritably, slamming a fist down on the hostage's stomach, hard. His Royal Highness grunted softly at the impact, starting to tremble in terror. "She deserves the right to watch him die."  
  
"We should kill her," the Japanese freedom fighter repeated. "She's-"  
  
"You- you're going to kill me, aren't you?" a small, frightened voice asked from the corner. The girl was looking at them sadly. "It- it's alright. I don't mind."  
  
Quatre glowered at Heero for a moment before turning to face the captured girl. "Not if we don't have to," he answered softly, kneeling down to look her in the eye. "We weren't sent to kill innocents."  
  
A growling sound came from Heero. "Any time now."  
  
The girl shook her head. "I- I'm no innocent," she whispered brokenly. "If I stayed hidden like Momma told me to, he wouldn't've..." She gulped and started shaking. "He wouldn't've killed 'em. They- they're all dead, 'cause've me... It's all- all my fault..." Tears rolled down her battered cheeks, but the words kept pouring out. "And- and the-then he-he..."  
  
Quatre's vision flashed red. Slowly he stood up and drew his knife. "Don't let him make any noise," was his only comment as he ripped the sheet off the fat old man's nude body. What he did next made even Heero blanch and wince in imagined pain. Edgin tried to scream, but Heero had a lock on his throat, preventing even a whimper from escaping. The now unconected body part was flung off into a corner, and Quatre wiped the blood from his hands into the sheets. "Kill the bastard," he ordered bluntly. He turned his back as Heero finished it.  
  
The raped girl smiled weakly at the blonde boy. She had watched the castration hungrily, and now sagged back against the wall. "Thank you."  
  
"He deserved it," the pilot of Sandrock told her. "I'm sorry about this." So quickly that she was couldn't have seen it coming, he tapped her on the forehead with a fist, and she sank into the relaxation of true unconciousness.  
  
The two slipped out the door and into the currently unguarded hall. As they set aside the manhole that covered an old aqueduct Heero tapped a button on the side of his watch. The manhole was covered, and the two vanished from the OZ base.  
  
***  
  
A half mile outside the base, Duo heard a series of beeps in his ear. For a second he thought it was the ringing coming back, but it continued onto to play the opening bars of Moonlight Sonata. He grinned and pressed a button. "Boom."  
  
***  
  
When Duo got back, Quatre was scrubbing himself down in the shower, doing his best to get the coloring out of his hair. Heero had set aside his jacket was digging through the refridgerator. He hadn't changed his jeans, so slim flashes of bronze skin winked at Duo from behind the rips as he walked into the apartment. He stood there, staring blankly for several minutes, dark eyes glazing slightly. Eventually, the image began to double, and he realized that he'd forgotten to breathe. The braided Death tottered inside and collapsed onto the sofa, making a loud 'whuff!' come out of the worn cushions. He shook his head, digging his face into the couch. 'Oh, man, I was NOT just ogling Heero's ass,' he told himself. 'It's only the knock on the head. I WAS havin' trouble standing up on the way home. That's got to be it.'  
  
Something cold dripped down the back of his neck. Duo grumbled and turned his head enough to glare up at Heero with one violet eye. The Japanese pilot was standing over him and letting the condensation from his glass drip, smirking. "Tired?"  
  
"Hhhnnnn," Duo groaned, reburying his face into the cushions. The movement joggled something in his brain, making him turn green. It could have been the not-breathing of the minute before or the knock on the head, but all Duo knew was that he did NOT feel well. "Ugh, don't ask."  
  
Heero's grin was replaced by well-hidden worry. "Injuries?" The cold drink vanished, and his hands were immediately performing a quick once-over on Duo, who would have blushed if his head hadn't started pounding again.   
  
"Just a lil' banged on the head," the American told his partner. "Nothing big."   
  
"You should be in bed." Heero's lips twitched downward in a slight frown. "You might have a concussion."  
  
"Naw, I've had those b'fore. They're worse than this," Duo told him glibly. "I- Whoa!" Heero had picked the smaller boy up and was carefullt carrying him back to his room, carefully dodging around the doorway like he had seen Duo do with Quatre.  
  
"You should rest," he told the other boy sternly. Genuine worry created a crease between his eyebrows as he set Duo down in the bed.  
  
"We only just met," Duo joked weakly, trying to sit up. Heero pushed him gently back down onto the bed, scowling. He picked up the blankets and tucked them around Duo's slender frame, ignoring the protests that came from his pacient.  
  
"Go to sleep," he insisted, sitting on the edge of the bed farthest from Duo. I'm not leaving until you do."  
  
"And then you'll wake me up every hour," the braided one complained, but he relaxed into the pillow.   
  
Heero just shrugged, not feeling that a response was needed. He would do what had to be done, even Duo could appreciate that.   
  
Duo glared at him, but his eyelids were already growing heavy. "I'll get you for this," he warned, but a yawn cut off anything else he was going to say.  
  
The pilot of Wing watched as Duo slipped off to sleep. He was well aware that Duo hadn't been following his usual sleeping patterns since they had relocated. Now that the other boy was relaxed totally he noticed the strain that lined his face. Heero felt a twinge of guilt, knowing that he had caused some of the sleepless nights, just by not understanding what had been upsetting the boy from L2.  
  
Duo mumbled something and shifted, a curl of hair brushing his cheek.   
  
'You should try it sometime. It's... It's comforting.'  
  
'For who?'  
  
'For you.'  
  
He looked down on Duo's still face, watching all the little imperfections blend away into a picture of peace. It wasn't necessarily a beautiful face in the classical sense. His chin was a little too delicate, and his nose was turned up at the end in a way normally associated with anime girls. But it was one of the loveliest things Heero had seen in a long time. This was what he was fighting for, this feeling of belonging and the minute perfection of the moment. Smiling softly, he leaned down and brushed a kiss across the sleeping teenager's forehead.  
  
"You were right, Duo," he whispered, knowing that the other boy couldn't hear him. "It is comforting."  
  
***OWARI*** 


	6. Interlude 01: Thinking Logically

Thinking Logically  
Interlude I of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: PG  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: A Few.  
Warnings: Mainly just Heero's thoughts.  
By Moon Faery

Archived: Moon Faery's Garden ; Kiss of Death ; Lev's Lair [THANK YOU, Lev! *huggles*] 

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, original characters and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: This goes between "Comforting" and "Of Panties and Starlight". (III and IV) Yes, I realize that no one requested this, even when I asked, but I did it anyway. >>;; Heero's character was gettng fairly confusing; I know what's going on in his head, but I just don't see how anyone else can. Add to that that Unbroken (which is likely to get a name-change soon, since the plot point that provided that title didn't appear like I thought it would) 04 isn't working out well, so I needed a change to get the old muses working again. ^^ It's short, but enjoy.

***

Heero slammed the door to the studio appartment he'd rented for the sake of the mission, cursing his idiot professors under his breath. There was a satisfying snap as it shut, leaving a long crack in the wooden doorframe. Looking around the apartment for something else to break, he realized that there wasn't much. The room was very nearly bare of furniture, which he should have remembered earlier since he'd specifically set it up to look that way. The struggling college student he was pretending to be wouldn't have the finances for anything beyond food. He found himself mildly surprised at the condition of his meager furnishings. He'd only been there for three weeks and already everything in sight showed signs of heavy mending. Compared to the furniture the holes that he'd punched through the drywall were almost not worth mentioning. The landlady was going to have a seizure when he moved out and she saw the damage.

All at once, Heero's anger drained out of him. Running weary fingers through his bangs, he kicked a pizza box out of his way and let himself drop onto the battered couch.

He'd admitted to himself two weeks ago that it wasn't coincidence that Quatre nearly always managed to assign himself and Duo to the same missions, or that Wufei was always convieniently "busy with another assignment" and Trowa undercover almost constantly. It could have been coincidence, numerical order or even the simple fact that they worked well together, but Heero doubted it. 

'It's more likely that Quatre just spends too much time re-writing bad romance novels, and Trowa and Wufei are just happy to play along,' Heero thought to himself wryly. The last time he and Quatre had ended up in the same school, the blonde had been sent to the dean's office for complaining - loudly and in the middle of a lecture - that the book he was reading was completely unrealistic.

_'Only a complete idiot would fall for a guy who thought she was a hooker! And she's a DOCTOR, for goodness's sakes, not some over-dressed prostitute!'_

Their physics professor had not been amused.

A few days after his first revelation about Quatre's plots, he managed to accept that the blonde boy's subtle pushes weren't unwelcome, and Duo's cheerful friendship was sometimes the only thing keeping him from snapping under the stress of the revised Operation Meteor. It had taken nearly three chairs and five holes in the wall to figure it out, though. The couch had very nearly gone the way of the chairs after that revelation.

Unfortunately for Heero's security deposit, Quatre hadn't been able to arrange their mission schedules as seamlessly as usual this time. Duo's stealth and creativity were badly needed with Wufei in Northern Europe, and his computer skills were required in a damned American college, where he was forced to consume a steady diet of stale pizza and beer for the sake of his cover.

Which was exactly why the back of the couch had just gone crunch under his hand.

He was going to be more than relieved when he finally finished planting that false evidence into the Romafeller database and he could get to that cabin in the North American continent. According to the plan, he would be there for three whole days before Duo and Wufei joined him. Then they'd recieve thier next assignments and would split up again.

At least Duo would be there to keep him from working himself to death for a few days; somehow, he always did. Until that moment when he had tucked Duo in, he hadn't really thought of the other boy as more than a friend and some-time partner. Since then he'd been contemplating axactly what their relationship was. It certinly wasn't strictly work-related; the little things they did for each other proved that, and the word "friends" just didn't cover all the depths of their interactions. 

Heero pulled a bottle of warm water out from under the couch, where it had been hidden from casually prying eyes. Unscrewing the lid, he took a gulp, letting the luke-warm mosture trickling down his throat distract him from the headache taking shape. There was something infinitely frustrating about the lack of definition of his and Duo's relationship, and thinking about it always lead him back to the same place: a bottle of water, a headache, and Quatre's questions ringing in his ears.

_'Did you and Duo have sex?'_

If they had, it might have actually solved more problems than it caused. At least then they both would have had something to lean on, a distraction from fighting when it could be afforded, and an understanding partner when it could not. The risk of emotional attachments being used against them were far outweighed by the benefits of having something stable in their lives.

Something would have to be done about that.

Duo's unconcious work to relax everyone around him, combined with the plan that had been forming in the back of Heero's mind since that last damned mission, might be the support they both needed. Logically, if Duo's friendship kept him from falling over the knife's edge of sanity, something deeper than friendship might be able to stabalize him in ways that nothing else could.

And that just might win them more than the war.

***OWARI 03/09/03***


	7. Story 04: Of Panties and Starlight

Of Panties and Starlight 1/1  
Story IV of "Chasing Down the Moon"  
Rating: PG13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: ..? Not to my knowledge  
Warnings: budding shounen ai, suggested violence, panty jokes  
By Moon Faery  
Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden  
(); FFN  
(); Kiss of Death [my new site!]  
(); anywhere else that  
asks nicely.  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from  
becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam  
Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However, this story line and  
plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....  
  
Author Notes: Set roughly 8 weeks after "Comforting". The opening is  
basically just a part written to lead into the real story.   
***  
The mess scattered across the darkened room was truly monumental.  
Clothing was spread around, draped over the sparse furnishings and  
hanging off of doorknobs. There was even a bra hanging off the  
ceiling fan, which whirled around at high speed. Wufei picked his way  
through the room, occasionally stepping carefully around a select  
piece of female unmetionables. Duo was following closely behind him,  
clucthing the back of his black tanktop and squeezing his eyes closed.  
"Is it over yet?" Duo asked, opening one eye to find himself  
peeking at a pink panty. He sqeaked and hid his face in Wufei's back  
again. "Make 'em go away!"  
"Maxwell, if you don't let go of me, you're going to find yourself  
waking up naked in Victoria's Secret," Wufei threatened, twisting his  
head around to glare at the other boy. "You're doing something most  
men our age only dream of."  
"But it's the girls' locker room!" Duo whined, reluctantly letting  
go of the Chinese pilot. "And I never thought it would be this...  
messy." He nudged a shirt with the toe of his shoe, jumping back as  
if it were going to bite.  
"That is what happens when you release the lab mice from the  
science department into a large group of girls," Wufei told him  
philosophically, scooting sideways around a locker that had been  
tipped over.  
A quick grin flashed across Duo's face. "It got them out of here."  
"And created the very feminine disatster you are so afraid of,"  
Wufei reminded him, kneeling down to take a quick look under a cement  
bench. "I think this is it."  
Duo carefully bent over to look. His braid slithered down his  
shoulder to block his vision. Mutterering under his breath, he moved  
it aside and finally got a good look at the small device that had  
been glued to the underside of the bench. "What a place to leave  
plans for a new mobile suit."  
Wufei nodded. "But intelligent; who would think that OZ agents pass  
information in such an undignified manner?" He pulled a pocket knife  
out of his shoe and began prying at the glue. "Why are you here,  
again? Your job was done with the rodents."  
"Quatre's Mission Plan specifically had me here, playing decoy,"  
Duo explained, sliding away from a threatening pair of pompoms. "I  
think he wanted me to stage a panty-raid or something. I didn't read  
it after the second mention of wigs and falsies."  
Underneath the bench, something came loose with an almost inaudible  
'pop!'. "I have it," Wufei announced, sitting back on his heels. He  
accidentally bumped one of the leaning lockers, which swung open and  
showered him with a rain of make up, panties and bras. He blinked,  
picking a bra off his head and glaring at the offening garment.  
"Lacy," was his only comment.  
Duo snickered. "Great, oh exalted one. Now, if you can pull  
yourself away from the 'silky darlings'," he drawled, "can we get  
outta here before someone-" The lights flooded on.  
"I KNOW I heard voices, Mary!" a contralto voice declared loudly.  
"It would be JUST like those guys to put the mice in here so they can  
steal our panties." The locker doors slammed closed.  
Duo and Wufei found themselves frozen in place, unable to move.  
They shared a single thought. 'Oh shit.'  
"I'm tellin' ya, 'Manda," a higher pitched voice said. "Guys don't  
really do things like that." Two girls rounded the corner, one of  
them weilding a baseball bat.  
"Comes..." Duo finished his sentence weakly.  
Two pairs of eyes, one green, one brown, fixed on the two boys with  
deadly intensity. The one with the blunt object set her jaw. "They  
don't do that, huh?" she asked, not removing her blood-thirsty  
emerald eyes from the offending 'panty thieves'.  
The one with the brown eyes had blushed, but was now looking as  
angry as her friend. "I owe you a coke," she said simply. "CHARGE!"  
Duo and Wufei screamed in sheer, unadulterated terror.  
***  
Wufei stuck the bandage over the long claw mark on Duo's cheek. The  
truck they had hitched a ride on hit a bump, making him nearly ram  
face-first into the wall.  
"Thanks, Wu," Duo sighed, rubbing a large bruise that spread across  
his ribs in the shape of a baseball bat. Miraculously, nothing was  
broken, but it wasn't for lack of effort on the parts of 'Manda and  
Mary. "Look at us," he snorted ruefully, turning around to dig  
himself a burrow in a tarp. "We're pathetic."  
"Excuse me?" Raising an eyebrow at the quickly vanishing pilot,  
Wufei considered jumping up and arguing the statement. He decided not  
to, as his ankle hadn't yet recovered from being knawed upon.  
"You heard me, Wu." Duo poked his chestnut head out of the miniture  
cave he'd created. "Here we are, two trained assassins and members of  
an elite group of freedom fighters that accepted only the absolute  
best when we signed up. And we were just beaten up by a pair of  
ordinary teenage girls, who were armed with only a single blunt  
object." He rested his chin in his cupped hands and stared at his  
partner. "We. Are. Pathetic."  
"We were under restraint not to seriously injure them," the dark-  
eyed Chinese teenager reminded him, though doubt flickered across his  
features. "They were civilians."  
"And we couldn't even get away?" Grey-blue tinged eyes regarded  
Wufei sarcastically. "Sure bud, all that pleading for mercy was just  
us playing 'normal teenage boys' for the crowd."  
Wufei took a moment to reflect on that. "I don't think even Heero  
could have gotten away from those two," he commented honestly. "He  
certainly shows no... talent for handling that Peacecraft girl."  
The silence stretched out. "I think it's a guy thing," Duo finally  
told him. "Women look at us funny, and we either get blown over by  
hormones or terrified. Usually both."  
"There are plenty of men who have no problems handling women,"  
Wufei felt obliged to point out, in defense of his gender.  
"And how many of them aren't whipped, either by their wives or  
girlfriends?"  
"..."  
Duo grinned suddenly. "At least we aren't alone, Wu." The attempt  
to cheer up the suddenly depressed Chinese pilot fell flat. The quiet  
began again, settling down like an itchy old blanket. Eventually, it  
was broken.  
"Duo?"  
"Yes?"  
"You were right on your first assessment. We're pathetic."  
"I know, man. I know."  
***  
Heero looked up from mending a rip in the pocket of a t-shirt to  
see Wufei and Duo stagger into the secluded cabin. He blinked at  
their battered state. Duo had several long scratches on his face and  
a horrible looking black eye. Wufei was leaning heavily on Duo and  
walked with a limp. A large series of bruises and what looked like  
teeth marks decorated his shoulders and arms like strange tattoos, or  
war badges.  
"..." seemed like the most appropriate comment to make. Inspite of  
the battle marks he bore, Duo looked deliciously rumpled. The collar  
of his t-shirt was torn along the shoulder seam, revealing one creamy  
shoulder. Heero's mouth went dry at the sight.  
Duo eyed him wearily, blinking a little at the hungry look in  
Heero's eyes. 'I must be imagining things.' "Heero..?"  
He hesitated. "Yes?"  
"Next time, you take the 'easy' missions."  
"... I see."  
***  
Duo laid on his bed in the room he shared with Heero, staring  
blankly at the ceiling. Through the window the stars glittered down,  
not even casting enough light to create a decent shadow. Thoughts  
whirrled around him, making sleep impossible.  
When they had told Heero of the problems they'd faced in the locker  
room, he'd done the last thing either of them had expected. He'd  
laughed himself silly, almost knocking over his laptop while doing so.  
'He's changed,' Duo thought, smiling to himself a little and  
replaying the image of Heero's laughter in his mind. His thoughts  
kept returning to the way his eyes flashed, and the soft look of the  
skin of his throat when Heero tipped his head back to he could laugh  
louder. 'Its like he's opening up finally. I wonder why..?'  
Duo turned over and snuggled deeper under the blankets, arranging  
his hair carefully to prevent choking on it. His large eyes peeked  
out the window from beneath the covers, watching the moon begin to  
rise behind gathering clouds.  
The door creaked open, and a soft footstep broke the silence. Duo  
automatically went limp, waiting and watching through cracked  
eyelids. Heero glided into the room, moving around carefully. He  
stored his laptop on the small desk and dug around in his dresser for  
a moment. His figure was outined by the window, the stars and rising  
moon giving off just enough light to hint at the curve of his muscles  
and the color of his eyes.  
Violet eyes narrowed slightly as Duo stared, lips parted. Heero shut the dresser drawer and began to pull off his tank top. Luna chose that moment to finally let go of the horizon and the cloud cover, spilling silvery light onto the scene. Each dip and line of Heero's chest and shoulders became outlined in light, glowing a washed out shade of bronze against the darkness of the room. Unconciously, Duo groaned under his breath, licking dry lips as he stared at his partner. 'Guess I WAS oogling Heero's ass,'[1] he thought drily, nearly swallowing his tongue as Heero balanced on one leg and bent over to work his jeans off. He audibly choked as the jeans pulled down Heero's boxers enough to reveal the rounded top of one cheek.  
Heero whirled around, crouching low. "Who's there?"  
'Busted.' "Just me, Heero." Duo sat up in bed, fighting off the urge to hide himself in the blankets. It was cowardly. Besides, Heero would probably dig him out of them, and the thick comforter was the only thing hiding his erection besides his boxers, and somehow he didn't think they'd be much help.  
"You were watching me undress?"  
Duo grimaced at the faint accusation in the tone. "Um... something like that..." He fidgeted, not looking Heero in the eye.  
Dark blue eyes glinted. "You're drooling." Heero watched Duo perform a full-body blush as he wiped his chin off. His lips twitched as he fought to maintain an air of diapproval. The blankets pooled around Duo's lap, and every move the slender pilot made was calculated not to change that, a fact which Heero noted.  
"I was... just thinking of... getting something to eat!" Duo prevaricated, conveniently forgetting to mention what it was he wanted to eat. He grinned, swallowing against the heat that was building up in the room. Heero was staring at him intensly, something strange in his face making Duo shift around more. His erection rubbed insistently against the blankets, making his breath catch in his throat.  
"Oh?" Heero asked, voice deceptively mild. "What do you want to eat?" His voice deeped to a near purr.  
Duo blushed at the tone, swallowing hard. "Uh..." He gathered the comforter and dashed for the door. "I'mgoingtogogetsomethingtoeatbye!"  
Heero watched as his prey left, a faintly disappointed fown curling his lips down. "Damnit. He took the blanket."  
***  
The blankets pooled on the wood floor as Duo stared at the ceiling again. He'd been there for at least a hour, and hadn't moved since finishing the sandwich he'd made for comfort food.   
"This sucks."  
"What does?" Wufei slipped into the room, sitting across from him at the kitchen table. "Something about Heero?"  
Duo blinked. "How'd you guess?"  
Loose black hair brushed Wufei's cheeks as he shook his head ruefully. "For the past three weeks, you haven't talked about much of anything else." He looked at the kitchen to their left, eyeing the American out of the corner of one dark eye. "You like him."  
Duo opened his mouth to protest, but snapped it shut again. He watched his fingers push bread crumbs around on his plate. "It's that obvious?"  
Wufei snorted, smiling slightly. "Only to someone who knows you both well."  
"It's that obvious," Duo sighed to himself. "What do I do, Wu?" he asked pitifully. "I don't think he even swings that way..." His forehead thumped down unto the table. "Ow."  
"Duo..." Wufei stood and walked around to kneel by his friend's chair. He pressed a light hand against one pale bare shoulder. "If you lo- like him, you should act on it."  
One bright eye peered out at him, dark blue depths lightening to their normal violet. "What if he says no?"  
"Seduce him," came the prompt answer. Duo choked and sputtered.  
"Seduce him?" he hissed, shocked. "Wha..." He hesitated, thinking the option through. "That actually makes sense. How'd someone like you learn so much about relationships, Wu?"  
A quick grin answered him. "By watching people like you fall in love," he answered softly, hints of an old pain quickly hidden behind his obsidian eyes.  
"Thank you, Wufei." Duo bent down and hugged his friend. Wufei squeezed back. When they parted, he stood and pulled Duo up with him.  
"Go to bed," the Chinese boy ordered gruffly, tears shining at the corners of his almond-shaped eyes.  
"Sure, Wu. G'night." Duo practically floated back to his bedroom, doing a few improvised dance steps and almost tripping over his blanket.  
Wufei watched with a small, sad smile, shaking his head and cleaning up the mess Duo had made.  
***OWARI***  
[1] At the end of Comforting, Duo stares at Heero's butt, but convinces himself that it was the the knock on the head. Pay more attention to the story! (Or better yet, read Comforting. [hint hint]) 


	8. Story 05: Unbroken 00

Unbroken 00/?  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Shounen ai; Relena Bashing (trust me on this one. ^.~ )  
By Moon Faery  
Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden (); FFN Author Moon Faery (); Kiss of Death [my new site!] (); anywhere else that asks nicely.  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However, this story line and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....  
  
Author Notes: PLOT?!?! How the HFIL did that sneak into a romance arc?! @@ It's not here yet, but... Scary.... x-x In a side note.. (waves to Fuu-chan) Lookee, a multiparter! I told you that I was working on it! ^^  
***  
Duo woke up to birds chirping, the sun shining, and angels singing in chorus. Or at least it felt like he did. In actuality it was raining, cloudy and the only thing singing was Wufei in the shower, and he could hardly be described as an angel, in voice or fact. But for Duo, the world was definitely looking up. He was going to tell Heero how he felt. If Heero felt the same way... Well, then, they'd take it from there. If he didn't... It would hurt, he wasn't so optimistic to forget that. But he'd get over it fairly quickly. At least fast enough to put plan B into operation.  
  
He really had to think of something nice to do for Wufei someday soon. Maybe a set of ear plugs, so he didn't have to listen to himself singing. Then again, it sounded like he was tone deaf anyway, so that wouldn't work.  
  
Stretching luxuriously under the blankets, he noticed vaguely that Heero's bed wasn't made. He couldn't remember a time when Heero had left his bed messy. The change in routine, though slight, gave him a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he shook it off as the effects of a near-perpetual case of blue balls.  
  
"Duo, WAKE UP!" Heero called from down the hallway, the sound ricocheting though the room like a gunshot. Without really stopping to think about it, Duo jumped out of bed and ran out of the room, clutching the sheet around his waist to help hide his early morning erection. He skidded to a halt beside the kitchen table, which was currently hosting a battered laptop and the a plate of what looked suspiciously like an omelet.   
  
Heero glanced up from the screen of his laptop, noticing absently that his partner hadn't bothered to get dressed, or to do his hair. Assessing the vision in that single glimpse, Heero decided that he wouldn't mind seeing the same thing again. Repeatedly. From different angles, in different positions.  
  
But business came before pleasure. Especially when the pleasure was by no means assured as mutual.  
  
Yet.  
  
The sole survivor of the Maxwell Church Massacre fidgeted nervously under Heero's brief gaze. He knew that it was probably his imagination (or his dick, he wasn't sure which), but there was something in the other pilot's eyes that made his knees go weak. He swallowed and firmly told his hormones to go away. They responded with an uproarious, 'Fuck you!' and supplied his overactive imagination with some very explicit pictures of Heero. Duo resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall, instead trying to concentrate on what he'd been dragged out of bed for. "You said something about a mission?" As naturally as he could, he shifted positions so that the sheet stayed bundled in front of his crotch.   
  
It was harder for Heero to suppress the urge to grin it would have been a few months ago, but he managed by fixing his eyes on the screen before him and delivering the mission statement in as impersonal a voice as he could. "Relena's being targeted by Oz. I'm assigned to protect her until the danger passes."  
  
Duo blinked as the information processed through his coffee-less mind. It took a second, but eventually he found a response suitable for such a statement. "WHAT?! You're out of your friggin' mind, Heero! So now you're chasing after her, instead of the other way around?! What a load of bull sh-"  
  
"You know about the decision we ALL made." Wufei calmly stepped from the shadows of the hallway, drying his hair with a towel. Neither of the other two boys had noticed when he'd stopped singing.  
  
If Duo had been a dog, he would have been bristling. "You KNEW about this-"  
  
Heero shut his laptop loudly, almost cracking the screen. "It's necessary to-"  
  
"Protect the future peace, what we've been fighting for," Duo cut him off, practically snarling. His eyes flashed to a nearly black shade of blue for a brief second. He would be damned if he was going to sit back and watch the object of his affections wander off to guard little miss perfect princess without a fight, though. "I know, Heero. I KNOW. And I'm going with you."  
  
"No you're not." Heero and Wufei's voices were nearly indistinguishable from each other as they answered in chorus.  
  
"Wufei's staying here to fix Wing and Shenlong," Heero told flatly. "You're going to help him, and finish upgrading Deathscythe. I'm transferring to Relena's school immediately."  
  
A soft snort sliced through the silence. "I wish you more luck with Relena then we had with our last mission, Yuy," the Chinese boy said, memory making a strange mix of a grimace and a grin cross his lips.  
  
"Relena's not the baseball bat type, Wufei," Heero chuckled.  
  
Duo glared at the both of them. Neither of his fellow pilots was taking him seriously. "I bet she wears crotchless panties around soldier-boy here." He jerked a thumb at Heero, who turned an interesting shade of purple.  
  
"MAXWELL!" Again, the Heero-Wufei stereo effect was nearly flawless. Duo couldn't stop himself from snickering at their shocked faces.  
  
Heero managed to control his blush, and shot a death glare at Duo. "You're not going."  
  
"Yes I am," the long haired boy answered easily. "You can't watch Relena and maintain surveillance." He grinned smugly as irritation showed on Heero's face.  
  
The Japanese boy hated to admit it, but Duo was right. "Fine. Pack. We're leaving ASAP. I'll brief you on the way to our new school." He grumbled under his breath about idiots who wouldn't take no for an answer and turned back to his laptop to assess the damage.  
  
Duo's eyes glinted a merry shade of cobalt as he flashed Heero a snappy salute and marched off to their room, nearly tripping over the sheet that had managed to wrap itself around his legs as they talked. He didn't look back, or he would have seen Heero's concentration slip away from the laptop to watch him leave.  
  
Running his fingers through still damp hair, Wufei could only watch the entire scene and remind himself that they were both idiots.  
*** 


	9. Story 05: Unbroken 01

Unbroken 01/?  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Shounen ai; Relena Bashing; Baiting of the Hee-chan, Humor, language  
By Moon Faery  
Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden (); FFN Author Moon Faery (); Kiss of Death [my new site!] (); anywhere else that asks nicely.  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However, this story line and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....  
  
Author Notes: Hee-chan's a hentai! And I think I was in a weird mood when I wrote this. x-x One hour of sleep will do that to a person.   
***  
  
Duo crossed his arms and tried to stare Heero down. This was impossible for several reason, the main one being that it was Heero. It didn't help that his adversary was staring straight ahead at the road, glancing at Duo only occasionally. "No. N. O. I refuse." He set his jaw stubbornly. There was no way in Hell that Heero was going to win this one.  
  
For his part, Heero was beginning to get tired. He and Duo had been discussing the same topic since he'd first explained the mission. Neither was willing to compromise in any way, which created the current problem. Not even bothering to look up from driving, Heero ground out, "Duo, you do not have a choice. You're the one who wanted to come on this mission."  
  
The response was immediate, and predictable. "You TRICKED me!" Duo yelled, moving to leave the stolen SUV for the fifth time that hour.  
  
As with the other four times, Heero prudently locked the doors and silently thanked whoever created child-proof locks on cars. By the time Duo had the mechanism unlocked, he usual forgot about trying to leave. Heero had no doubts that the handsome- if stubborn- pilot in the passenger seat would gladly jump out of a vehicle moving at sixty-plus miles per hour to escape this particular assignment.  
  
"No, I didn't."  
  
"Did too!" Duo jiggled the door handle, trying to figure out a way around the safety lock.  
  
"I did not."  
  
"Did TOO!"  
  
It took most of Heero's will power not to grind his teeth, or pound his head into the steering wheel. "Duo, you are going to do it, even if I have to tie you up."   
  
The sudden silence from the passenger seat froze the blood in Heero's veins. Duo looked up from trying to trick the child proof mechanism, the unholy gleam in his eyes reminding Heero of nothing less than a tentacle demon from various doushinji he'd seen in stores, but only bought because they might run into situation when they needed something flammable to start a fire. Or at least that was what he kept telling himself.  
  
"Promise?"  
  
Dr. J's blue-eyed protégé nearly choked, and definitely turned faintly red. Several images assaulted his poor, hormone addled mind, mainly of Duo and the various things that could be done with rope. The rest of the drive to their new school was horrible. For some reason, Heero found it more difficult then he had thought to persuade his body that pulling over and ravishing the gloating boy in the passenger seat was NOT a good idea.  
  
'I'm going to kill something,' Heero growled to himself silently, knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel.  
  
The pavement slipped by beneath their wheels, to vanish from sight in the distance, uncaring of Duo's agony over the mission, or Heero's frustration. Sometimes it's nice to be a stretch of asphalt.  
***  
  
The door creaked open, three figures stepping into the room silently, an icy stare and a long braid marking the two unfamiliar ones. The students in the classroom looked up from what must have been very serious and important work, measuring by the way they were devoted to it so entirely. It must have been something like feeding the homeless, or ending hunger. Considering that Relena was in the room, there was also as strong possibility that it was world peace.   
  
No one can goof off quite like a class of high schooler students without a teacher in sight.   
  
Spit balls, paper airplanes and various other instruments of destruction were put away as everyone scrambled to get back to their seats. Several girls moved to unroll their skirts so that they were regulation length once more, but most of them took one look at the two new boys and left their hemlines right where they belonged, which was too high.  
  
The teacher smiled brightly at his pupils, the hint of sheet in his old brown eyes making everyone move even faster to get the room back into the proper order. After everyone was settled, he cleared his throat. "Class, we have two new transfer students. Please welcome Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell to St. Teresa's."  
  
Heero, as was normal for him, just nodded at the class, not even smiling. More than a few boys glared at him challengingly, but that didn't bother the pilot at all. The giggles and blushes from the female half of the group were much more unnerving, making him feel oddly like a piece of meat in a butcher's shop. In complete contrast to his partner's unnerving flat stare, Duo grin cheerfully and wiggled his fingers.  
  
"Hiya!"  
  
From her place near the center of the room, Relena smiled brightly at Heero. It was about time he showed up again, in her mind.   
  
The teacher, Mr. Figujamertadek[1], waved a hand towards the back of the room. "Mr. Yuy, Mr. Maxwell, I believe there are two seats in the last row which are unoccupied." He made little shoo-ing motions, giving the room another paternal smile as the two newest student obediently slipped down the rows to their seats.  
  
Duo barely repressed a growl as her Royal Pinkness smiled at Heero. He had the weirdest urge to smack Relena, yell "MINE!" and drag Heero off the hair. Luckily, it was suppressed easier than other detention-causing urges.  
  
The Rest Of the Female Population of the Class[2] smiled vacantly at both of them in a way that only teenager girls seemed to master. Duo settled down in his seat and cast several not-so-subtle glares at the ones who were busily drooling over Heero. None of them noticed, since they were all too busy being too irresistible for any male with hormones to ignore. For the first time ever, Duo was thankful that Heero showed no signs of having hormones to complicate things.  
  
Meanwhile, in the seat directly to Duo's left, Heero silently swore death to everyone who was staring at what he considered his, or at least soon to be his.  
***  
  
Lunch found Heero and Duo occupying an empty table that was literally surrounded by a sea of girls three tables deep. Heero's deadly gaze kept them from sitting with them, but nothing he could do could keep them from circling them like prey. Luckily, neither boy was paying much attention to anything except each other, or they probably would have left Relena to her fate.   
  
Duo was ranting, and had been ranting ever since they sat down. Luckily, he was speaking softly enough that the girls surrounding them couldn't hear more than the occasional curse word. He was currently ending a long, involved train of logic. "-and that's FINAL! I'm NOT doing it!"  
  
A small growl of annoyance caught in Heero's throat, barely remaining unvoiced. Heero set down his hamburger- he was too busy watching Duo to eat it anyway. "Duo, either YOU do it, or I will."  
  
"Do what?" a voice asked. Relena appeared beside their table, seemingly materializing out of thin air.  
  
"Holy FUCK!" Duo fell backwards out of his seat, scrambling away from Relena, eyes huge with shock. His braid fell over his neck and chest to pool on the ground, moving with every panicked breath he took.  
  
Heero almost automatically reached for his gun, hand pausing after having moved only inches. He was in the middle of a crowd of civilians. Pulling a weapon on the pacifist leader of the world would not be a good idea.  
  
Relena blinked at their actions, sweat dropping slightly at Duo's crab-like position. "I'm sorry. Am I intruding?"  
  
"Yes," Duo answered automatically, sitting up to reclaim his seat and the tattered remains of his dignity.  
  
At the exact same time, Heero answered, "No."  
  
They both took a second to glare at each other over the cooling remains of what the cafeteria laughingly refereed to as "lunch".  
  
The second-to-last surviving member of the Peacecraft family smiled graciously and seated herself next to Heero. She hadn't brought a lunch, so she didn't have to worry about little things like elbow room, and thus managed to sit very close to the pilot. "Good, I was afraid that I was unwelcome."  
  
Duo sulked in the seat across from them, doing his best to behave under the circumstances. He couldn't resist responding to her comment under his breathe, though. "You are unwelcome."  
  
"Excuse me?" Relena blinked wide blue eyes at him. "Did you say something Duo?"  
  
Another patented Heero Yuy Glare o' All Things Painful hit Duo from across the table. "Have you been informed of our reason for being here?" Heero raised one dark eyebrow at their "mission". For some reason, he felt like a piece of meat between two hungry dogs, and it was making his thumb itch.  
  
The pacifist girl rolled her eyes sarcastically. "You mean you weren't yearning for my divine company? I'm disappointed." At their shocked silence, she smiled easily and flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder. "I just assumed that you were here for the usual."  
  
Heero shook his head. "Tell her, Duo."  
  
"No," the braided pilot answered immediately.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No."  
  
A frown traced Heero's lips as he pulled out the metaphorical Big Guns. "Either you or me."  
  
Gray-violet eyes locked on Relena as Duo stared at her like she had some contagious and deadly disease. "Do I have to?"  
  
Relena eyed Duo just as thoroughly as he was staring at her, although with considerably less animosity. She wasn't quite sure what the two boys were arguing about, but she was sure that she wasn't going to like it. "Does he have to?"  
  
The pilot of Wing just nodded, eyes flat.  
  
A growl escaped Duo's throat. "We're here to stop OZ from killing you," he told Relena bluntly.  
  
"Ki- killing me?" Her cornflower eyes were wide, and she went pale as the information hit home.  
  
"Yeah," Duo answered grumpily, slumping down in his seat.  
  
There was a long moment of silence as Heero waited patiently for Duo to finish explaining. Eventually, even he got tired of waiting and kicked Duo in the ankle beneath the table. "The rest of it, Duo."  
  
If possible, Relena went even whiter. "There's more?"  
  
Duo glared viciously at Heero. "You sick, twisted, sadistic sonovab-"  
  
"DUO!" Heero growled, expression beginning suggest impending violence.  
  
There was an incoherent mumble from the other side of the table. Heero kicked him again. "OW! Since we're here to watch you, I'll be posing as your boyfriend." Duo stuck his tongue out at his partner and crossed his arms. "There! Happy?!"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Relena blinked uncomprehendingly, shock written clearly in every aspect of her body language. It didn't even look like she was breathing.  
  
"Yeah, I'm not to happy with it either, babe," Duo told her, sulking.  
  
There was another long moment of quiet. Finally, the blonde girl remembered to breathe. She processed the new development silently, eventually looking up to ask a single question. "... Why not Heero?"  
  
There was a loud thud as Duo's forehead hit the table, just to the left of his food. He groaned. "Like we didn't see that one coming!"  
  
Heero just sweat dropped.  
***  
  
[1] (sweat drop) I had no idea that the name would come out so weird. I was kinda at a loss, so I just pressed random buttons on the keyboard, and then added vowels where needed. @@ From now on, he will be called "Mr. F" for simplicity's sake.   
  
[2] Now officially a single character in and of itself. ^^ 


	10. Story 05: Unbroken 02

And many thanks to whoever left that annonomys - but still very thoughtful - note about the plothole in this chapter. ^~ I patched it up as best I could; thank you for the heads up!  
  
Unbroken 02/?  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Shounen ai; Relena Bashing; Baiting of the Hee-chan; Duo-torture; Humor; language  
By Moon Faery  
Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden (); Kiss of Death (); anywhere else that asks nicely. (Hint hint?)  
  
Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. However, this story line and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....  
  
Author Notes: I'm sorry this took so long! x-x It was a mixture of laziness and RL. Gomengomengomengomen!!!! (grovels) And I took liberties with the way girls normally treat hot-but-taken guys. Sorry, but I wanted Duo to suffer. ^.^ Oh, and if you haven't noticed, the warnings grow as I add parts. ^^;; I only add the warnings as they pop up in each chapter. So for each chapter you get a complete listing, but I can't vouch for the next part. ^^;; Oops?  
  
***  
  
Duo sulked along behind Relena as she practically bounced from one overly-perky group of girls to the next, giddily introducing her "boyfriend". It had taken Heero three death threats to pound it into her concrete-thick head that she didn't have a choice, and then she had practically thrown herself at Heero, trying to get him to switch places with Duo. About the time Heero's trigger finger had started twitching, Duo had tossed her over his shoulder and hauled the blonde out of the cafeteria.  
  
He had expected her to be disappointed, upset and mad at him, but the Peacecraft completely surprised him when she actually seemed enthusiastic about having him follow her around like some sort of pet. It would have been marginally bearable if Relena's friends had been able to keep their hands to themselves. It got to the point where he had backed himself into a corner to protect his assets from being woman-handled. Even after that, the little twits just kept giggling to themselves, complimenting Miss Relena on her taste, and asking if he was going to be coming to the movies with them, or if he would tutor Hillary in math (even though he claimed to be horrible at math), and was Miss Relena going to bring him to the December Dance in three months?  
  
Just as Duo was starting to realize exactly what he had volunteered himself for - which was suicide by torture as a living piece of meat - Heero rescued him, saying something about needing help with something from shop class. The horde of femininity fled at the mention of a guy thing, undoubtedly to discuss girly things and plot evil, wicked things to do to a certain poor braided boy. Or more specifically, to do to his hair, which they all seemed to admire much more than Duo was comfortable with.  
  
"What do you need, Heero?" Duo asked, following so closely behind Heero that the Japanese boy could feel his breath on the back of his neck. "Anything to get me away from those... girls." He shuddered, feeling vaguely ill.   
  
"The only thing I need NOW is for you to keep your cover," Heero half growled under his breath, a slightly darker timbre in his voice sending tiny little chills up and down Duo's spine. "You were about to make a break for it; that would have jeopardized the mission."   
  
As they entered their shared dorm, Duo made a bid to explain. "Look, Heero, if you were back there getting your ass grabbed, you would've run for it too!" He fell back on his bed spread-eagle, trowing one arm dramatically over his eyes. "Thank God you came. I was just about to pull a gun and start shooting."  
  
Heero snorted, flipping open his laptop. "Isn't that a little over done?" he asked, glancing at the prone figure of Duo on the bed, deep blue eye twinkling slightly before turning back to his work. "Don't tell me that the 'Good ol' Maxwell charm'," he drawled in a passing imitation of Duo's own voice, "can't handle a small group of unarmed female civilians."  
  
Duo's eyes blinked open, shining royal blue with shock. "Did the great Heero Yuy just make a joke?" he asked, jaw hanging open. "Has Hell finally frozen over? Politicians and lawyers flown? Oink-flap, oink-flap?" He made little flapping motions with his hands.  
  
Heero glanced at his partner again, taking in to the disbelieving expression with a smirk. "Obviously not, since you're still talking."  
  
Duo was at a loss. How was he supposed to respond to Heero when the other boy was displaying some shreds of personality? Obviously, with great maturity and deliberation, taking great care to show his intelligence. Then he remembered who he was and threw maturity in the trash bin of his mind along with various porno plot lines since they weren't needed anyways, sticking out his tongue at the Japanese boy, wondering what reaction he'd get this time.  
  
The only reaction was another smirk as Heero closed his laptop and stood. "Don't offer that unless you plan to use it," he said lowly, striding out of the room as though nothing had happened. Duo stared at the closed door, dumb struck.  
  
***  
  
Life continued on in that vein for roughly a week, and the only real method of tracking the passage of time became the speed at which Duo jumped around loud noises- particularly giggles- and the volume of his loud retching noises at even the mention of the color pink. As the days wore on, Duo's reflex-speed and gagging-volume increased at a predictable rate. Well, at least according to the graph Heero made they did. The normally bouncy teenager had taken to stuffing his braid down the back of his shirt during class. Somehow it seemed to sprout ribbon, small key chains, flowers and various other girly things by the end of every class. Once it was even unbraided and wound into a coronet. Not even Heero could guess how Relena's Groupies did it, since the two pilots sat in the very last row, and both boys were sure that they should have been able to spot any girls moving from their seats to play with Duo's hair.  
  
Unfortunately, neither boy was aware of the unusual powers possessed by a teenage girl with something cute to torment, and no one was in a hurry to enlighten them.  
  
As the first fifteen minutes warning bell of the morning rang, Heero was already in his seat, notebooks and pencils at the ready for another day of pretending to learn what he already knew. He looked up as the door slammed open and a throng of self-important teenage humanity rushed to get to their seats. Right behind them came Duo Maxwell, the latest boy toy of the girl half of the school. Heero watched with faint amusement as his prey- ah, that is, roommate and partner ran through the door at speeds that were probably impossible in normal humans, head ducked under his black jacket and hips neatly tucked forward in a fruitless attempt at avoiding the notes, phone numbers and tiny little feminine trinkets that were practically shoved in his pockets from every side. He did manage to keep from being groped, if only because he was moving too fast for the girls to get a good hold on him. If Heero didn't know that Duo hated every second of it, he would have been insanely jealous. As it was, he simply sat back and enjoyed the show as Duo pelted down the aisle of desks and slid into his seat.  
  
The girls left their desks and started heading back towards them, eyes alight with something resembling devotion. After all, there were still fourteen point oh-seven-six-three seconds left before class was scheduled to start. That was plenty of time to make their devotion to pacifism known to the world by becoming close, personal friends with Miss Relena by becoming VERY close with Miss Relena's boyfriend. It was for the anti-war effort. Really. And then something happened. It wasn't a big something, but to Duo it seemed like a miracle.  
  
Relena burst through the door, waving a small brown package in the air. "It's HERE!" she squealed.  
  
The mob froze.  
  
Dark blonde hair caught the regulation lighting as Relena bounced into the room with more energy than a Pikachu on Pixy Sticks. "It's here it's here it's HERE!" she crowed, doing a little dance step. The wave of girls did an immediate about-face as the import of the message sunk in. Apparently, every single girl in the class knew what "it" was, but all the boys were left staring blankly as what seemed like every woman in school (even the elderly secretary from the principal's office) gathered around Relena's desk, cooing like a flock of doves and chattering at each other over the mysterious object. Some of the less subtle were even drooling. A few particularly loud squeals and exclamations managed to be understandable in the midst of the noise, but not many.  
  
"I didn't think it would arrive so soon!" Relena's voice cried out. It almost seemed like little hearts and sparkles were floating over her in the very middle of the group, but of course they weren't, since this was real life and not a shoujo manga.  
  
"OHMYGOD! LOOK at that outfit!" another person shrieked. "He's wearing LEATHER!"  
  
Someone fainted.  
  
"I heard that they're dating..."  
  
"... SO much better together...!"  
  
In unison, all mascara'd, large female eyes snuck quick glances at the boys in the room, who all turned pasty white and tried to hide. There was something in their mass stare that made strong men want to cry. Those looks settled longest on Heero and Duo, and several immensely evil smiles appeared. Heero fought the urge to hide under his desk. Duo, on the other hand, had just spent a week being abused by women with very similar looks, and in this was smarter than Heero.  
  
Blue eyes blinked as Heero looked down to see Duo crouched between his legs, under his desk. "WHAT are you...  
  
"SHH!" Duo hissed. "I'm hiding; they'll find me if I stay under my own!"  
  
While Heero processed this information, the squealing had resumed, at even higher pitches.  
  
"... does his hair just like..."  
  
"... luck, that is SO cool!"  
  
And then, almost in a chorus, the women in the classroom, young and old, clasped their hands and cheered, "You're so LUCKY, Miss Relena!"  
  
Between Heero's knees, Duo pressed his face against the linoleum and groveled, offering a prayer of thanks to whatever was up there that he was safe from being feminine-ized for the day. Heero just twitched and rubbed his forehead as the shrieks of the obsessed battered at his poor, abused ears.  
  
***  
  
Duo collapsed on his bed spread eagle, pulling the slightly battered pillow over his eyes and groaning. One of his hands twitched occasionally, specifically the trigger finger. Unlike most days that ended in long sessions of Duo-angst, there was nothing visibly wrong with him. He hadn't been forced to wear make-up, his braid was slightly messy but untouched by flowers or butterfly clips and other than a loosened tie, a missing dove gray jacket and a few undone buttons on the pseudo-satin black shirt, his school uniform was unmolested. Eventually he fell into an uneasy doze, dreaming about the ordeal he had just managed to live through. That was the way Heero found him when he came in to the dorm room from his last class.  
  
Heero stared. Then he turned his head slightly to the side and stared some more. Eventually he ended up twisting his neck into something as close to a right angle as it was going to get, and he still didn't have any answers. "... Duo?"  
  
Dazed violet-gray eyes flew open as Duo jumped off the bed. "NO I HAVEN'T KISSED HIM!" The pillow flew across the room to thunk against the wall, and one Duo Maxwell fell face-first to the floor, cursing colorfully. The blanket followed him, victim of having been left unmade that morning.  
  
A tiny smirk greeted Duo as he gathered his courage and peeked out from under the pile of sheets. "What?" He tried to sound belligerent, but it was hard considering one of his feet was still propped up on the bed.  
  
"Kissed who?" Heero asked flatly, eyes gleaming with sadistic good humor that made those who knew him wonder exactly how kinky he could be.  
  
For some reason Duo flushed bright red, a color which contrasted strongly with his colony-bred paleness. "No one."   
  
When Heero raised one disbelieving eyebrow, Duo managed to turn a shade of maroon that looked dangerous. "Why are you here, anyways? Shouldn't you be... I don't know, doing Heero-y stuff?" Duo immediately reburied himself in the blankets.  
  
"Relena's going to the park with her friends. You need to escort her." For some reason he took an evil delight in the groan of pain that emanated from his partner's hiding place.  
  
"Does this day get any worse?" Duo muttered under his breath, scrabbling out from under the blankets and starting to straighten his gray and black uniform. As he talked, his voice slowly got louder until he was yelling at Heero, arms waving in the air in emphasis. "First that damned dream, then the Groupies try to dress me up like Shu-chan- whoever the hell that is- and THEN I'm interrogated on my sexuality. NOW I have to ESCORT her Bitchness to the PARK, just so I can be TORTURED SOME MORE!" He collapsed back onto the bed melodramatically. "Does it get worse? Tell me!"  
  
"OZ has you down in their record as 'Relena Peacecraft/Dorlain's betrothed'," Heero stated matter of factly.  
  
At that time, Duo said something that probably shouldn't be repeated, but they involve a lizard, Relena, and some physically improbable positions.  
  
"At least you haven't had to kiss her."  
  
Duo's eyes turned blue black, and the air around him fairly blistered with curses. Out in the hall, several boys in their class cheered.  
  
"Yet."  
  
Duo's eyes flashed evilly, and he grinned. "Your ass is MINE, YUY!" he yelled, pouncing on his roommate, tickling for all he was worth. Heero gasped, but went down before the unexpected assault, crying mercy. Unfortunately for him, the God of Death doesn't know that word, so the tickling battle went on for a good ten minutes or more. And if some accidental groping and grinding happened while they were rolling around on the floor... oops?  
  
***  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Please, Duo?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Just a hint, even?"  
  
"No."  
  
Relena glared at her "boyfriend", blue eyes flashing dangerously from beneath thick lashes. Off on the other side of the field, the Groupies giggles and commented on what a cute couple they made. "Fine. Be that way. Don't tell me his favorite color. But at least tell me one thing."   
  
Duo sighed, fighting the urge to pry her off his arm and march back to school. She hadn't stopped interrogating him about Heero since he'd arrived, five minutes late and out of breath. Who would have thought that Heero was a black belt in Tickle-Fu? The only thing that kept him from taking his own advice was the double threat of Heero and Groupie-revenge, both of which would be humiliating and probably painful. "What's the question?"  
  
"Boxers or briefs?  
  
Inside Duo's head, everything ground to a stop. It was a good question, now that she mentioned it. He thought back on all the times he had roomed with Heero. He couldn't recall ever having seen anything resembling underwear among his clothes, and there was no way he could wear anything under those spandex shorts without it showing. Did that mean that Heero didn't wear any?  
  
Then again, just the thought of Heero without underwear on made all the blood in Duo's body rush in directions that were decidedly AWAY from his brain. At the moment, he couldn't remember his own middle name properly, which was verr near impossible since he didn;t HAVE a middle name. Needless to say, any previous evidence of Heero's underwear or lack there-of had mysteriously vanished without a trace.  
  
Across the field, the squeals of the Groupies hit a new pitch as Duo started to flush bright red.  
  
"Duo?"  
  
"..."  
  
"Duo?!"  
  
"..."  
  
"DUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  
  
The frighteningly familiar scream snapped him out of it. Eyes widening in panic, he fell in his haste to escape the noise. "Holy FUCK!" Scrambling backwards, Duo clamped his hands down over his ears until she opened her eyes long enough to see that he was back to "normal".  
  
Relena frowned at his profanity, a tiny lady-like twist of her lips downward. "There's no need to be crude," she told him primly.  
  
"Call my name like that again and I'll be worse than crude," he threatened, standing up and brushing his butt off. "What's WRONG with you, anyways?"  
  
And then she grinned. It was a terrible, evil smile. "I'll tell you that, if you tell me why your nose is bleeding."  
  
There really wasn't much he could say to that, but for the first time in his life Duo wondered if his braid was long enough to strangle himself with. 


	11. Story 05: Unbroken 03

Unbroken 03/?  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Shounen Ai; Relena Bashing; Baiting of the Hee-chan; Duo-torture; Heero-torture; Humor; Language; Perverted YaoiFanGirls (like Little Shrimp); Tiny Cross-over  
By Moon Faery  
Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden (); Kiss of Death [my new site!] (); anywhere else that asks nicely. (Hint hint?)

Disclaimer: Down at the bottom. I love surprises, don't you?

Author Notes: I took some liberty with Duo's taste in music. I'm assuming that the music we hear on the radio will still be around in AC 195, much the same way we still listen to Mozart. I might just end up using one or more of these songs for a songfic in the future.. (ponders that)

//Background Noise-Music\\

***  
//Go ahead and hate your neighbor  
Go ahead and cheat a friend  
Do it in the name of Heaven  
You can justify it in the end  
There wont be any trumpets blowing  
Come the judgment day  
On the bloody morning after  
One tin soldier rides away\\

Incredibly loud ancient folk - of all things - music blasted down the hallway of the boys dormitory, shaking knick-knacks off their shelves, piercing through skulls, and causing generic havoc up and down the dorm. The brief second of peace as the songs changed didn't make much difference in the noise levels, since it made the chatter from the gathered teenagers audible for the first time. Heero waded through crowds of students, most of which were chatting loudly over the noise and dancing, as if it was a party. Someone had even brought out snacks. He winced as he got closer to the room he shared with Duo, which happened to be where the music was coming from. Amazingly, there were no teachers in sight to protest this obvious violations of the noise-level rules.

//Still like that old time rock n' roll  
That kind of music just soothes the soul  
I reminisce about the days of old  
With that old time rock n' roll\\ [1]

Heero grimaced and braced himself before opening the door, squeezing his eyes shut. The roar of pure sound that came out very nearly knocked him back down the hallway. Gritting his teeth, he entered the room, the sound of his entry completely covered by the music.

"DUO!" His shout wasn't even audible over the noise. Grumbling under his breath in various languages, Heero cracked open his eyes...

And wasn't sure which gun to pull.

Duo was literally bouncing around the dorm, wearing only a pair of black boxers and singing along at the top of his lungs, and for some inexplicable reason he was wearing the plain silver stud earring he'd aquired on a previous mission. His hair was loose, hanging down to the back of his knees and swirling around his hips and caressing his thighs. It caught the sunlight coming in from the tiny window set high up on the wall, turning into a curtain of gold, red and rich chestnut. His eyes, however, were almost completely hidden by that same curtain, offering only brief peeks of long lashes or a flash of bluish-lavender. The areas where his skin caught the few beams of sunlight practically glowed, the pale coloring making the lines of muscle on his back that much more prominent. It was very easily the most beautiful thing Heero had ever seen.

Or at least it would have been if it hadn't been so funny. Duo's singing voice was surprisingly good, but the toy blue bunny he was using as a microphone looked ridiculous. That combined with Duo's dancing- which was more like twisting and rocking his body in time to the music than anything else- left Heero staring at his partner, blue eyes glazed over and jaw hanging open slightly in shock.

Duo, who'd been in the middle of a particularly energetic spin, lost his balance as he saw Heero gaping. His feet slid out form under him, sending the nearly-naked boy crashing down onto Heero's bed. As he landed, instincts took over, making Duo roll the rest of the way across the bed and to the floor, where he landed in a defensive posture. It would have been very intimidating, if he'd remembered to let go of the stuffed rabbit clutched in his fist like a gun.

Heero's jaw slammed shut. "Duo, I don't think the bunny's loaded," he said dryly as the next song on the MIC Player began in the background. [2] 

//A long long time ago   
I can still remember how   
That music used to make me smile...\\

After what seemed like an eternity, Heero's lips curled in a tiny grin. "Just what exactly do you think you're doing?"

Duo took a moment to contemplate that before answering seriously. "Dancing."

Heero raised an eyebrow, eyelids growing heavy as he contemplated Duo's slightly sweat-sheened form from across the room. Duo fidgeted under his stare, licking suddenly dry lips and fighting the surprisingly immense urge to just throw himself at the object of his affections. But he'd seen enough movies to know that nothing good ever came out of that approach, and it would probably just end up with Heero marrying someone like Relena, himself angsting over the wedding, and then he would either fall in love with someone completely different from Heero or end up in jail for trying to kill Heero's wife.

Let this be a lesson to you: watching too many movies can kill your sex-life in the womb. Or dorm, as it were.

They continued to stare at each other, Duo becoming more and more nervous as the seconds passed, until he was fidgeting under Heero's stare. There was something unnerving about it, almost as if Heero was staring right through him into his soul. It wouldn't have been nearly as bad, if he'd known whether or not Heero liked what he saw.

"Would you like to dance?"

Duo blinked, eyes turning more dark lavender than blue in response to his confusion. There was no way in hell Heero had just said that, he reasoned to himself. He must have slipped off into a daydream or something, even though it wasn't really like him. Just to be sure, he said "D- did you just say what I think you said?"

Heero's smile grew wider. Not by much, but it was there. It was also starting to take on a slight hint of something Duo remembered vaguely from previous encounters with Heero. There was something about that expression on Heero's face that made all of his internal danger alarms blare, but at the same time it made him want to melt into a little gooey puddle of former street rat at Heero's feet.

"And what do you think I said?" Heero asked softly, eyes darkening as they reflected some nameless emotion that he clearly made no effort to hide.

Duo gulped. He recognized that tone of voice too, and he could feel his knees trying to give out and tumble him face-first back onto the bed. This was not the way he expected his encounters with one Heero Yuy to occur. In every fantasy, dream and daydream, he had been the one to start things. However, like most people, it was easier to think about taking the initiative than it was to actually do it. He was honest enough to admit it to himself, though, so it really wasn't much of a surprise that the his tongue tied itself into a square knot when ever Heero came onto him.

Well, at least the bed was between them if he screwed up and Heero decided to kill him. That was reassuring.

On second thought, that wasn't very comforting at all.

The look Heero was casting at his partner picked up intensity as Duo fidgeted his way through his thoughts. Unfortunately (for Duo's peace of mind, anyways) it was not a type of intensity that Duo was prepared to handle. Truth be told, Heero was starting to look like a cross between a hunting panther in mating season and a teenage boy dealing with an over-active sex drive. Finally, Duo just blurted out, "I'd love to dance with you!"

//...were drinking whiskey and rye  
Singin' this'll be the day that I die  
This'll be the day that I die\\

For some reason, the urge to find a nice sturdy wall and bang his head against it a few times was nigh-unto irresistible, but somehow Duo managed. That was very easily one of the most stupid thing he could have said. There was no way Heero was ever going to-

"Good."

Then again, maybe there is a God.

Before Duo could do more than blink stupidly, Heero had jumped over the narrow bed and grabbed his hand, leading his long-haired partner out from the narrow space between the beds to the larger area at the foot where they'd have more room as the song switched yet again, to a much more recent song that was decently fast-paced. Before Heero had a chance to change his mind, Duo threw his arms around the other boy's neck and forced him to move along with the beat.

Duo laughed out loud as suddenly Heero grabbed one of his hands and twirled him around the floor, only to spin him back in. It was only Duo's amazing sense of balance that kept him from eating linoleum. His smile grew wider as Heero gave him a grin. Not one of his deadly smirks, or one of the seductive half-smiles he'd been using on Duo so often lately, but a real, slightly goofy, grin. 

"I didn't know you even knew how to dance!" Duo shouted over the music.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," Heero shot back, spinning his partner out again, admiring the way his hair flared out around him.

"Yet!"

Heero laughed as Duo started to show him some of the weirder dance moves he'd learned in his fifteen years of life. He'd liked the sound of that word.

Yet.

***

Duo did his best not to sigh audibly as he escorted his "girlfriend" to class the next morning. She was babbling about some band she was currently following, throwing in a comment about Heero every now and then, and occasionally squealing in glee for some unknown and unknowable reason. Duo wasn't sure which God hated him so much that they gave the Stalker Queen the ability to obsess over two things at once. He was about to make his excuses and run off somewhere when something he said caught his attention.

"... just released a new song called 'Yuutsu Na Seven Days' and it's SOOOO good, it's my favorite song after Spicy Marmalade-"

"Wait a minute, Relena," Duo interrupted her. "What kind of name is 'Yuuutsu Na Seven Days' for a song? It's not even intelligible!"

Relena looked insulted, pausing in her stride to glare at him, hands on her hips indignantly. "Weren't you listening to a word I said?"

"No."

For a moment, it looked like she might have been mad at him, maybe even mad enough to ignore him for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, Duo's dreams of freedom for the day were shattered when she smiled and rolled her eyes. "Typical man," she sighed. "Bad Luck's songs are all in an ancient style of music called J-Pop," she explained patiently. "All their songs are in old Japanese. Of COURSE the titles aren't going to be in our language."

He thought this over for a second, absently fiddling with the end of his braid. "If you can't understand the songs, then why do you listen to them?"

She shrugged, her gray jacket making stiff rustling sounds. "I like the music, and the entire band's gorgeous!" Her eyes glazed over slightly, contemplating God-didn't-want-to-know what. Duo's self-preservation instincts came to the fore, making him back away before hugged him or something equally cootie-filled. So imagine his surprise when he hit the wall and heard a very familiar name being spoken in very female tones.

"... the same Heero?"

"I can't believe you had the guts to do that!" another girl squealed. "And to HIM, no less!"

Duo froze as the implications of that phrase sunk in. Relena was almost at class, and someone had done something to his partner. Without wasting a step, he turned and sped back to the boys dorm. If something had happened to Heero, that would be the best place to look for him.

Through a combination of taking corners at dangerous speeds and ignoring slower-moving pedestrians, Duo managed to reach the room he shared with Heero at very-nearly record speeds. Flinging the door open loudly, he stepped inside...

And very nearly had Heero's gun shoved up his nose. 

"Oh, it's you." With a relieved look, Heero put his gun down and pushed Duo inside the room, peering outside suspiciously before slamming the door shut and turning to look at Duo.

"Were you followed?"

His question was immediately answered with another one. "Are you alright?" Stepping forward, Duo pressed the back of his hand to Heero's forehead. "You look pale, and you're shaking! No fever, though."

Heero pulled out of Duo's grip. "I'm not sick! I'm being stalked!" His fists clenched and loosened, causing tiny crumpling sounds to come from two pieced of paper he held before they fluttered to the floor.

That took a second to process through the other pilot's mind. "Stalked? Heero, Relena IS in this school, remember?" Duo blinked. "And what are those?" Reaching down, he scooped up the dropped papers, noticing that they had dorm numbers, times and dated written on the backs of them. 

"NO!" Heero dived for him, trying to snatch the notes away. Duo skipped aside from the clumsier than usual assault. "Come on, Heero, they can't be THAT bad," he soothed, unfolding one and reading it. Then he blinked, violet eyes widening in shock as he read it again, this time aloud, voice slightly strangled. "'I estimated that you're nine inches, minimum. Come by and you can tell me how close I am.'" With shaking hands, he opened the other one. "'Au Natural; me likee muchly.' Heero... there's a lipstick mark, and drool stains..." Duo held out the offensive notes. "Where did THESE come from?"

Heero glared at him and then stared at his feet, mumbling something.

"Repeat, please."

"I said that they were stuffed down my pants in the Library this morning!" Heero snapped, flushing a dull red. 

There was a moment of silence. And then Duo did the worst thing he possibly could have done. He started laughing, curling over and collapsing in on himself. The next thing he knew, Heero gripped the front of his uniform and heaved, sending him tumbling over onto the bed, where he sprawled in a tangle of limbs and braid, still laughing. 

"It's not funny!" Heero grumbled, sending his worst glare in Duo's direction. Not that it worked, but it made him feel better.

"Yes it is!" Duo giggled, clutching his stomach, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Now you know what I feel like! Wait till they start grabbing your-"

"DUO!" There was no was Heero could have possibly gotten redder. For the first time in several months, he considered killing Duo, but realized that would mean that HE would have to follow Relena around. Just the thought cooled his blood lust considerably. No amount of satisfaction was worth being stuck with Relena for any length of time.

Of course, that didn't mean that he couldn't get revenge, just that it would have to wait. And if there was anything Heero Yuy was, it was patient.

***

"Why were you and Heero late this morning? Anything Miss Relena should know about?"

Duo glared at the brunette girl blocking his way. Her name was Elisia, and out of all the girls in the school, she seemed to take the most delight in driving Duo insane. For some reason, she didn't trust him with "Miss Relena's" heart, and was bound and determined to break them up. She would have been successful, too, if there'd been a relationship to end. "Nope," he answered glibly. "Heero had some problems to deal with."

She raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Not feeling very well, hm?" she asked, lips pursed. "That would explain why he was so flushed." One leaf green closed as she tapped her temple with a manicured finger. "But why were you?"

He could have told her that it was because they'd run to class, but that would have made it obvious that Heero wasn't sick, and while he wasn't going to lie, Duo was perfectly willing to let her make all the assumptions she wanted. So he shrugged, trying to detour around her. Elisia just stepped back into his way.

"I don't think that's the whole truth, for some reason." She leaned close, lips stopping just short of brushing Duo's ear. He restrained the urge to shudder. "You have a secret, little Duo, and I think I know what it is."

He froze completely, eyes widening slightly in shock. If she knew that they were pilots, there would be Hell to pay. For a second, he didn't even breathe. His answer, when it came, was almost a hiss. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She actually giggled. "Oh, I think you do, little Duo. But it really is cruel of you to do that to Miss Relena. If you're going to cheat on her, the least you could do is do it with a another girl."

"..." Duo's jaw hung open. Something deep inside him told him that he should have expected this. "I-I..."

"Don't try to deny it," Elisia purred, eyes almost seeming to glow with some sort of inner light. "We've all seen the way you look at him when you think no one's looking."

He REALLY didn't want to know the answer to the question immediately popped up, but a small, masochistic part of himself reminded Duo that it was probably best to get the worst out of the way. "We?"

"Oh, yes. We."

Before Duo could do more than blink, he was surrounded on all sides by girls. Inwardly he cursed himself for being so distracted by Elisia that he completely missed the arrival of so many people. He vaguely noted that not all of the girls in the school were there, but most of them were. (Once again, even the secretary. Mrs. Elderson just seemed to have a way of getting mixed up in things like this.) Some giggled, some just simpered and a few cackled in artful imitations of the Wicked Witch of the Colonies, but they all had something in common, something that frightened Duo more than any torture and OZ soldier could come up with.

Eyes of every shade stared at him with hungry, glazed, obsessed expressions, barraging him on all sides. The perfume alone very nearly choked him. The weight of the arms thrown around him in massive hugs sent him to his knees.

"We..." Elisia indicated the crowd of females with a sweep of her arm, "are willing to keep your... indiscretions with Heero Yuy a secret. There is, however, a price attached."

There was no way Duo's eyes could have possibly gone wider; they already took up more of his face than should have been physically possible. They did brighten with something very near panic. He was so close to the breaking point that it never even occurred to him to deny the accusations outright. He told himself that he was a Gundam Pilot, that he had faced death and worse many times over without even flinching, that these were unarmed civilian girls - not even grown women. It didn't do much good in the face of his all-too recent memories of humiliation and degradation suffered at their nail-polished hands. And the previous mission with Wufei made his courage take a flying leap out the window. "P-pr-pri-ice?"

The horde universally grinned, and terror settled into a cold, tight little ball right below Duo's sternum.

Long black curls flew through the air as Elisia brushed her hair back behind her shoulder before leaning forward, one hand placed on her thigh, while the other reached up to pat Duo's cheek. He would have cringed, but fine muscle control escaped him. "You see, little Duo, in return for our silence, all we ask are... pictures."

The crowd surged. "Detailed ones!" someone screamed.

"Explicit!"

"KINKY!" Duo was shocked to recognize Mrs. Elderson's voice.

Elisia giggled at his still-stunned expression, fluttering her eyes almost coquettishly. "Video is preferable, but we will accept still photographs." She smiled slightly. "Although the.. length and quality of our silence depends almost entirely upon the quality of the merchandise."

Duo managed to shake himself out of his stupor, even though it took smacking himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand. "So... Let me get this straight... If I give you X-rated pictures of myself and Heero, you won't tell Relena..?"

"Mmhm." Elisia smiled brightly, nodding. "That is very much the long and short of it. You have until Monday, sweet little Duo." With one more pat, she stood up straight. "We do SO enjoy doing business with you. Ciao." 

As suddenly as they appeared, the mass of women vanished again. Duo was left on his knees, staring blankly at the ground, gasping for breathe in the newly perfume-free air. "And girls call US perverts..." he muttered to himself, inhaling yet another lungful of air. 'That was almost as scary as Heero around chocolate...' Duo froze where he knelt as that thought seeped through his skull, reminding him of a very immediate concern. His bones became chilled with the kind of cold that only impending mortal danger can bring. He had a rather large problem to deal with now, on top of the mission and incidentals like saving the world via Relena. And that problem was...

What was he going to tell Heero?

*** 

[1] Yep, Duo has odd taste in music! ^.^ Little bit of everything, isn't it?  
[2] MIC - Molecular Information Chip, a completely imaginary form of recording music and information. I figured that the CD might be a little outdated after 200-something years.

Full Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing, nor does anyone I know own it. "That Old Time Rock and Roll" is copyright Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. "American Pie" is copyright Don McLean. "One Tin Soldier" in by Joni Mitchell (at least I THINK it is. oo;; ). Gravitation isn't mine either. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, characters and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....


	12. Story 05: Unbroken 04

Unbroken 04/?? & Prologue  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
By Moon Faery

Warnings: Shounen Ai; Relena Bashing; Baiting of the Hee-chan; Duo-torture; Heero-torture; Humor; Language; Perverted YaoiFanGirls (like Little Shrimp); Tiny Cross-over

Archived: Moon Faery's Garden (); Kiss of Death (); Lev's Lair ()

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, original characters and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: I SWEAR that there was supposed to be a hint of seriousness in this fic. Unfortunately, I gave up on that about a month ago. >>;; (bow) Gomen nasai! 

***

"Everything's been taken care of, Ma'am."

"When?"

"Monday at noon, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Luitenent."

***

Mr. F smiled cheerily at the class from his spot at the front of the room. The students fidgeted in their seats nervously. The teacher had been standing in the same place watching them with the same too-happy gleam in his eye since class restarted after lunch. It was a Friday, and most of them had dates or plans for the upcoming night. As far as any of them were concerned, Mr. F's happiness was a bad omen for the upcoming weekend. It was never a good sign when the teacher was grinning at the end of the day.

"As you all know," Mr. F finally began, "this school has a number acedemic requirements, such as mandatory Language courses. Beginning Monday, you will begin learning basic horsemanship and riding as part of your Physical Education credit. There will be sidesaddle lessons for the ladies, and english pleasure for the gentlemen." He smiled even more broadly at the relieved sigh that came from most of the students. "I understand that most, if not all of you are already quite proficient on horseback, but please try to pay attention in class. You never know when you might need it. All Saturday and Sunday classes are canceled; you have the weekend to unpack or purchase proper riding attire."

In his seat at the back of the room, Duo sunk into his chair. His depression was so deep that he completely missed the ringing of the bell. Heero frowned at his partner's horror-struck expresion.

"Duo." He tapped Duo's shoulder roughly. "Class is out. Come on."

Duo looked up with an unhappy grimace. "Hey, Heero?"

"Yes?"

"I. Fucking. HATE. Mondays."

***

The dorm door slammed loudly behind them as Duo stalked into the room, five minutes behind Heero. As usual, he'd been mauled in the hallways, but that was nearly the farthest thing from his mind. He had bigger - roughly one ton bigger with teeth - problems to worry about.

"I'm not doing it!"

Heero glanced up from his text book unconcernedly, absently flipping to the next page. "Doing what?"

Duo actually tried to send a vicious glare at his partner, but the attempt died half-way through and turned into a pout. "I absolutely, positively, swear on my manhood and refuse to die am NOT even going to THINK about getting up one one of those damned big... THINGS." He shuddered, braid twitching with the movement. "I bet they have rabies or something."

"Swear on your..." Blue eyes blinked as Heero stared at him, looking as though he had just found hamster on a ceiling fan and couldn't figure out how it had gotten there. "Are you talking about the riding classes next week?"

"YES!"

"Duo, it's just a horse. Most of the ones provided for student uses don't even bite, much less have rabies. It's only a week until I'll be finished tracking down the people assigned to take out Relena, then we'll leave. No matter how little you like horses, you can certainly last that long." Heero re-opened the book he'd temporarily closed while talking with Duo.

"But we'll have to RIDE the damned things!"

"Duo, you must know how to ride a horse. It's simple." One of Heero's eyebrows went up, and the book closed again. After all of the training he knew Duo must have gone through to learn to pilot his Gundam someone surely must have trained him how to handle a horse. 

"Maybe for you or Quatre!" Duo protested, waving his arms in the air and beginning to pace agitatedly. His loosened tie fluttered in the faint breeze from the ventelation system as he moved, emphasising his words with every footstep. "Hell, even Trowa and Wufei are probably better than I am! You guys probably grew up on the things! I didn't see one until we visited that zoo three months ago for that African Wildlife course in Russia!"

"Duo, that was a Zebra. A fake one, no less." Heero's other eyebrow joined it's companion. "They went extinct fifty years ago, remember?"

"You're missing the point!" Turning around in mid-stomp to face Heero, he crossed his arms over his chest. "There is no way in HELL that I'm getting up on one of those things. End of story." He stood up straighter and slammed one foot down on the floor symbolically. "My descision is made."

***

The saddle weighed heavily in Duo's arms as stood in front of a wooden box stall, shoulders pulled back and chin lifted in preparation for the torture he was about to be put through. He wore a loose long-sleeved shirt over a pair of very tight tan pants Heero called breeches. They were made of some sort of stretchy material, and were padded with psuedo-leather on the insides of the legs for some reason. Heero had also insisted that he wear a cup, which was not reassuring in the slightest.

Damn Heero and his threatening, fast-talking, gun-pulling ways. The least he could have done was not use the puppy dog eyes.

'I'm going to kill Quatre for teaching him that.'

At least it had been fun when Heero had helped him with the breeches.

Inside the stall a dappled gray horse with a nearly black mane and tail chewed on it's hay contentedly, completely ignoring the idiot boy standing outside it's stall. The brass plaque on the stall door proudly proclaimed the horse to be named Dancer. Underneath the plaque someone had scratched the name Mud into the wood.

Duo was definitely not reassured.

Heero appeared out of no where, and Duo took a moment to mentally drool over Heero in the form-fitting breeches, which revealed almpost as much as the boike shorts. The Japanese boy was carrying a bridle and various incomprehensible pieces of leather and metal, including something recognizable from bad BDSM cliches; Duo thought it was called a riding crop. Nearby a deep red horse with really black hair and legs was tied to the wall, probably Heero's horse. 

"This is the horse you were assigned." The Japanese boy nodded his head at "Mud". "He's seventeen and a half hands, which is a little big, but you're assigned to ride him next week so you might as well get used to him now." [1] Heero hung the equipment up on a hook before taking the saddle from Duo's arms and placing it carefully on the rack. All that was left in his hands was a piece of leather with a rope attached that looked suspiciously like the bridle without the metal mouth-thingy.

"This is the halter; it goes over the horse's head and you hold the horse by the lead." Heero jangled each piece of equipment as he explained before handing the whole lot to Duo, who's face was staring to reflect complete and utter panic.

"You want ME... To go in there and try to CATCH that thing?" Duo asked shakily, wondering what he had ever done to Heero to deserve this. Maybe it was that thing with Elisia... No, he hadn't told Heero about that yet. 'More punishment for me. Yay.'

Heero supressed a sigh. "It's not that hard."

In the stall, Mud looked up from his food. Lazily he ambled over the door, chewing on an invisible wisp of hay. Duo's already wide violet eyes got even bigger as the horse came up to them. Finally he scrambled back, falling onto his butt in his haste. "SHIT! Heero, that damned thing's HUGE!"

Brass buckles jingled as Heero stepped forward to pat Mud's nose, shaking his head in irritation. He wanted to tell Duo that horses could get a lot bigger than Mud, but resisted the temptation for the sake of their covers. Duo had to know at least the basics about riding, or there was no point in being in the school at all.

"I'm not getting on that thing," Duo swore, dusting off his breeches. 

"Yes you will, Duo." Heero stated firmly. "Come here." He held up the halter and let it dangle from his hand.

"No."

"Duo, NOW."

Duo's long braid swung in an arc as he backed up a step. "No." Steely blue eyes locked on sunset violet ones. Once again, Duo backed up, this time corssing his arms and shaking his head for emphasis. "No."

Heero's eyes narrowed dangerously as he advanced on his reluctant partner.

***

'How the Hell does he keep doing this to me?' Duo asked himself as he lead Mud over to the large arena. The horse, who was being held at arm's length, rolled his large brown eyes expressivley. Duo glared back; it looked almost as if Mud was laughing silently at some great joke, the butt of which was his soon-to-be rider.

Over on the railing, the usual crowd of admirerers had gathered, giggling over the sight of both boys in the tight breeches. There was a difference to this crowd, though. Scattered among the groupies were several boys who wore a look of sadistic enjoyment.

"Hey, Duo, good luck with the Flight Instructor!"

At the sound of his title, Mud arched his neck and pranced, obviously pleased with being recognized. Duo dodged the hooves that threatened to crush his toes. In the end, he ducked close to the horse's neck and put all of his weight on the lead rope to stop the grey's movements.

"Flight Instructor?" he asked shakily, hoping that he imangined the wicked gleam in his mount's eye.

"That's what he's called!" the helpful sadist called from the safety of the fence. "No one's managed to stay on him all year!"

The fear Duo felt at the thought of learning to ride seemed to take on a whole new depth. He stared at the boy on the fence, noticing absently that he looked an awful lot like Elisia. In fact, if he grew his hair out longer, they could have been twins...

Evil must run in that family.

Mud flicked his ears in annoyance. This tiny THING was going to ride him, and at every available oportunity he took his mind off the task at hand; namely, staying alive. That simply wouldn't do.

"Are you sure that THIS is the Flight Instructor?" Duo began to question the Elisia-twin shakily. "Couldn't it be sooON of a BITCH!" Something sharp, hard and very painful clamped down on his shoulder. Automatically he swung himself around and hit whatever it was, nearly wrenching his shoulder out of it's socket when Mud didn't let go immediately. It required two more punches directly to the horse's nose to force him to release his rider. 

The boy on the fence nearly fell over in laughter. "Yeah, that's the Flight Instructor, all right!" he gasped. "None like him!"

Duo rubbed his shoulder and glared at his horse. Mud flicked his tail and glared right back.

This was going to be a long day.

***

Heero reached down and hauled his partner to his feet for the third time in their first fifteen minutes of lessons. Duo groaned and rubbed his lower back, completely ignoring the twigs and leaves in his hair.

"Duo, what did I tell you about stopping?" he asked, handing Mud's reins back to the other boy. After watching Duo be knocked off three times, stepped on, bitten, kicked and thrown into the gate, he wouldn't have been surprised if Duo had given up. Surprizingly, Duo snatched the reins from him eagerly.

"To not lean forward. I know, Heero. And I would've stayed on this time if that damned thing hadn't run me into the fence!" Duo brushed the dust from his face, tossed the reins back over his mount's neck and pulled himself back into the saddle, grunting in pain. The grey gelding stood placidly as an old children's pony, showing no signs of the evil lurking within.

Heero's mare danced backwards as her rider nearly ran into her while stepping back to look up at Duo in amazement. "You're going to try again?"

Under the helmet, Duo's eyes hardened. "No horse is going to beat the God of Death," he answered calmly, sliding deeper into the saddle. 

'Besides, if I die I won't have to tell Heero about the porn thing.'

There was something to be said about self-preservation instincts, and it wasn't in the least bit complimentary. Confident in the fact that he couldn't loose, Duo flicked his reins and nudged Mud forward with his heels.

Mudd sighed and flicked his ears backwards at his rider, shifting his weight to his other leg. Didn't this boy ever give up?

Duo flicked the reins again, this time kicking the horse sharply in the ribs. Mud took off at a rolling canter, racing around the ring as fast as he could manage in the enclosed space. As was normal for a beginning rider, Duo leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the horse's neck, screaming at the top of his lungs for Mud to stop.

Now, Mud was a very well trained horse. He knew dressage, western pleasure and every type of English seat that could be imagined. His trainer had been careful to train him to leg, rein, music and even voice cues, so when Duo yelled, "WHOA!" into his ear, he was only doing what he was trained to do when he locked his knees and skidded to a sudden stop. When taken in that light, it was Duo's own fault that he went flying forward over Mud's head. However, it was just bad luck that he landed in a large puddle of mud on the other side of the arena fence.

Girls flocked to the braided teenager's side, cooing over his injuries and offering assistance, while Mud simply watched his idiot fondly from the safety of the arena, a wicked look in his brown eyes. It was really the boy's own fault that he liked him enough to be creative; usually Mud would just buck his riders off. It was such a shame that Duo didn't appreciate the special treatment he was getting.

Duo pushed himself to his feet and tightened his grips on the reins, which he had never let go of.

Mission accepted.'

***

The fifth time Duo kissed the dirt after that, it was neither his own nor the horse's fault. To Mud's credit, even Heero was startled when something orange and menacing appeared out of nowhere from behind the stables.

"Oooohhhh, DUUUOOOO!!!! HEEEEROOOO!!!" the Thing called piercingly, fluffing it's citrus-colored, curly hair in what was supposed to be an alluring manner. "We brought you a SNAAAAAAAAACK!!!!" It's companion, Relena, sighed and hid her face, wincing as various thumps, screams and yells of pain resulted from their abrupt appearance. 

Once again Heero found himself pulling Duo back up to his feet, only this time he had to do it to himself as well. "I think that's enough for the day."

Duo rubbed his newly aching shoulder, closing his eyes and mouthing and silent 'thank you' to whatever was watching, and probably sniggering as well. At least it had some pity, or Heero would have insisted on continuing. "How long was that?" Wincing, he passed the Flight Instructor over to a helpful groupie, who took both his and Heero's horses away to be put up.

Heero checked the wrist watch that hung off his breeches, absently dusting the back of his pants off. "Fourty-three minutes, twenty eight seconds."

"Oooooooooooohhhh...."

TH-TH-TH-THUNK

The two boys turned to see a small crowd of fans, fully half of whom had fainted from the sight of Heero brushing himself off.

Relena and her companion slipped between the slats of the arena fence and trotted over to Heero and Duo, both clutching mottled pink heart-shaped boxes. Oddly enough, the swirls of pink of the cover of both boxes looked vaguely like young boys playing leap frog. [2] It was probably just a coincidence, though.

"We thought you might want some food, after working so hard," the Orange One simpered, shoving her box at Heero and batting her eyes. 

Duo took his from Relena carefully, inspecting it closely for anything remotely suspicious. "Are these drugged?"

Heero peeked inside his box, raising one eyebrow at the selection of beef jerky, bean dipping sauce, rice and other foods, all of which were either dyed pink or heart-shaped. "Are they?"

Relena pouted. "How could you think that of me?"

Duo rolled his eyes, looking away and muttering under his breath. "Easily."

"You're going to need all the protein you can get for the photo shoot," the girl with the awful hair explained, winking outrageously.

Duo froze, stomach knoting into a tiny little ball that kept screaming, 'Oh shit oh shit OH FUCKING SHIIIIIIIIITTTTT!!!!!'

Heero's other eyebrow joined it's companion. "Photo shoot?"

Relena blinked, throwing a near-glare at her companion. "Be quiet!" she hissed, clamping a hand over the orange-haired girl's mouth. "She must be talking about the yearbook photos everyone was asked to submit!"

"MMPH!" Garish hair flew everywhere as the girl squirmed out of Relena's grasp. "You know what I'm talking about!" She grinned viciously, eyeing them both. "I bet you already made some for us, huh? That's sooooo thoughtful of you!"

Duo grinned nervously and backed away from his suddenly scary partner as Heero's patented glare was turned on him. Neither boy noticed Relena's look of embarassment as she muttered some implausible excuse and dragged her friend away. 

"Photos?" Heero asked flatly, taking a step towards Duo.

There were several choices that Duo had, but the long-haired pilot decided to take the one that was most likely to let him live. He ran for his life. Heero followed only a few feet behind him, swearing vengance for what he was sure was not going to be a good development.

Over on the fence, a blonde girl leaned against her boyfriend and sighed. "Isn't that sweet? I bet they're racing off to do something romantic. They're so cute together!" Her boyfriend nodded absently, too busy trying to squirm his hand under her blouse to listen. He didn't even notice when his friends look at him out of the corners of their eyes and inched sideways, away from him.

"DUO! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!!!!"

"HELL NO!"

***

[1] A hand is four inches, so the Flight Instructor (Mud) is seventy inches tall from the ground to the highest point on his shoulders. That's five feet, eight inches for those of you who don't want to do the math. Basically Mud's shoulder is seven inches over Duo's head.

[2] Okay, so this was practically stolen from the Bird Cage. Don't sue, please? (Borrows Heero's puppy dog eyes)


	13. Story 05: Unbroken 05

Unbroken 05/07 + Prologue & Epilogue  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Shounen Ai; Relena Bashing; Baiting of the Hee-chan; Duo-torture; Heero-torture; Humor; Language; Perverted YaoiFanGirls (like Little Shrimp); Tiny Cross-over  
By Moon Faery

Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden (); Kiss of Death (); Lev's Lair ()

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, characters and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: Okay, I played fast and loose with my scheduled plotline. I was getting tired of the plot heading off in it's own happy little direction, so I took a bit longer than I had planned and got the whole fic done in one long shot, then divided it up into chapters. ^^;; I think I'll do that from now on; I seem to have a problem regaining my momentum after I've ended a chapter. So the next few chapters are short, but they're all done and ready to post. ^^ I'll send one out every time I check my email (usually once every day or two) until they're all posted.

***

Duct tape, Duo quickly dicovered, had not lost any of it's legendary strength or versatility even several hundred years after it's creation, in spite of having little in the way of improvement or evolution since. A full fifteen minutes of struggling brought him nothing more than chafed wrists, which in turn brought several more minutes of colorful, if muffled, oaths. Duo was particularly proud of the one which involved his captor, one Heero Yuy, and a vacuum cleaner in several compromising position. If only he hadn't been gagged when he said it; it probably would have been even more impressive.

'Smart move, Maxwell,' he thought to himself grumpily, prvented from vocalizing his thoughts by his hastily prepared but well-tied gag of a sock, a handkerchief and even more duct tape. 'You should've known that running wouldn't help.'

If his mouth hadn't been taped shut, Duo would have grinned. Even though the chase had ended with Heero winning, interrogating him and eventually taping him up and tossing him into the closet, Duo was pleased with the result. On the downside of current events, it was probably going to take him forever to escape and he was going to have to wear his sleeves rolled down until the red marks faded. Once he found out where Heero had hidden his clothes, of course. 

There were plus sides that more than made up for all of the bad, though. For one, Heero had been very careful to keep from catching his hair in the tape. That particular feat astounded the owner of said hair since he knew exactly how hard it was to keep the mass out of his waistband when putting on his pants, much less out of one of the most stubborn substances ever created by human hands. Secondly, Heero had relaxed enough around him to start the run around the grounds in the first place. Admittedly, it was while shouting death threats, but Duo liked to tell himself that he took what life forked over. A few weeks ago, Heero would have just let him run and pulled a gun on him as soon as he returned to their shared room, not chased him around like an almost-normal person.

It said something about Duo that he didn't even pause to for a second thought about the threats Heero had made on his life.

There was a trick to escaping duct tape, but Heero must have known about it. Why else would he have covered Duo's mouth so thoroughly, other than to keep him from using his teeth on the stuff? Besides his teeth, the only thing Duo could do was squirm and hope that it was an old roll with little stickiness left.

Duo's eyes lit up in the dark cloest. 'Stickiness! That's it!'

Slowly, Duo forces his mouth open as much as the tape would allow, wincing as it pulled on the baby fine facial hair that he'd been trying unsucessfully to cultivate into an actual beard. After much wriggling, pushing and general work, he managed to push his tongue to the front of the gag. Ignoring the disgusting taste of duct tape glue, he licked around the edges of his mouth until the duct tape that kept the sock and bandana in place fell to the floor, soaked and useless. After that it was only a few minutes work to spit out the offending gymsock and work the bandana down to his chin.

All in all, Duo was pretty proud of himself. Now he just had to figure out how to bend enough to chew through where his ankles and wrists were taped together. 'It can't be that hard,' the braided boy told himself optimistically.

Hours later, Duo conceded that yes, it was indeed that hard.

***

Duo moaned and rubbed his sore back, certain that he'd pulled at least three muscles in his escape. His pants were left unbuttoned and his shirt was on backwards and inside out from getting dressed in a dark cloest, but he was finally free. And it only took three hours, not including the time spent picking the lock on the closet from the inside out.

"At least he didn't do anything worse."

The low-pitched mumble was barely audible, but it was still anough to pull Heero's attention from a piece of paper he was reading. Causually, he raised an eyebrow. "I was expecting you an hour ago."

"Shut up." Duo flopped down onto his bed, rubbing his wrists and trying not to wince. The abrasions weren't nearly as bad as he thought they'd be, but they were still painful.

Heero's expression spoke for him, but he vocalized his thoughts anyway. "I'm supposed to tell you that."

"Yeah, well..." For once, Duo couldn't think of a rebuttal. After all, it was his own fault for not telling Heero about Elisia sooner. Like Heero had said before he'd bundled Duo up and tossed him in the closet, if he'd known earlier they might have been able to figure a way out of it. A quick change of topic was in order. "What're you reading?"

"Missive from Zero-Three."

Before Duo knew what he was doing, he sat up in bed and swung around to face Heero, smacking himself in the chest with his braid. "From Trowa? I thought he was playing toy soldier."

Absently, Heero nodded and refolded the one-page letter. "He is. I had him do some research in the enemy database while he had access."

There was a long pause while Duo waited for his partner to continue. After several minutes, it became obvious that Heero had no intention saying anything else. "Um..." Duo cleared his throat. "So what did Trowa say?"

There was another moment of silence while Heero looked at Duo, almost as if deciding whether or not to make him beg for the information. He must have decided that it wasn't worth the effort, because he frowned and started talking. "Oz doesn't know anything about what brought us here, or if they do it's not in their systems."

If he hadn't already sat up, Duo would have done it again. "But OZ is always up to it's eyeballs in paperwork! How'd this one get out of the usual pile?" His eyes widened. "Unless..."

Heero confirmed Duo's guess with a quick jerk of his head. "It was an outside job."

There was a short pause as they considered the implications. Suddenly, Duo's eyes brightened and he leaned forward. "Does this mean we get to leave?"

"Yes." At Duo's relieved expression, Heero snorted. "We're not out of that damned deal yet, Duo. It's going to take us at least a few days to arrange tranfer papers, and we can't afford to leave an obvious trail."

Duo's expression fell and his braid seemed to go limp. "Please say we'll leave before Monday?"

"No."

"Why not?" It was as close to whining as Duo ever got.

The blue-eyed boy was starting to develop a headache. "Because we won't be ready to go until Monday afternoon."

"Well shit."

"Exactly."

***

Saturday morning found the halls full of students, as usual. "Hey, Relena!" A brown braid snapped through the air as Duo ran through the crowd to reach his former charge, dressed comfortably in jeans and an unbuttoned dress shirt. "Good news!" He was in such a good mood that he barely noticed the unidentified hand that brushed up against his crotch.

Relena's eyes lit up. "Bad Luck is coming to our school for a nude photo shoot?" she asked hopefully, eyes glittering miscieviously. "And Heero's joining them?"

The Gundam Pilot nearly fell over, twitching. "No!" He paused, blinking as her comment about Heero burrowed into his brain enticingly. It took a secon for Duo to shake the mental image of Heero posing as the centerfold for some exotic magazine. "And no." He was rather proud that he didn't sound as pitiful as he felt.

"Oh." She managed to look disappointed. "Then what?"

"We're through!" Duo explained enthusiasticly. "No threat, no guard duty, no reason to stay, we're out of here!"

Meanwhile, the Peacecraft princess was getting paler with every word. When Duo finished, she swayed back and forth woozily. "But- but..."

"Isn't it great?" Duo asked cheerfully, not noticing Relena's distress. "We've got to stay 'til Monday, but-"

The breath Relena had been holding wooshed out of her. "Until Monday? That's wonderful!"

Duo stopped and twisted around on a heel to look at her. "Are you joking? Oh, wait. Heero."

The blonde looked confused for a moment, but then she nodded happily. "Yes. Heero." Someone behind Duo caught her eye. "Oh, there's Mrs. Elderson! I... um, need to talk to her about a... thing!" Before Duo could stop her, she had vanished down a a connecting hall. He stared after her, wondering what he had just missed and chalking it up to girl stuff.

***

The Saturday afternoon sun glinted overhead, looking down on Heero and Duo, who were once more at the stables. Duo was on his knees in the dirt, clutching at the tail of Heero's shirt.

"Can I PLEASE ride an old one?" he begged, using what he hoped were Quatre-quality puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately for him, Heero's were better.

"I already told you, you have to practice with Mud," Heero explained, eyebrow twitching. Duo had been bothering him for several hours, and he was starting to re-think re-thinking his attraction to the long-haired whiner. "Now get up off the floor and act like a man!"

Duo pouted, but removed himself from the floor. "I'm not a man," he grubled. "I'm a teenager."

"Only a few years difference," Duo was told as Heero shoved the halter in his hands. "Now move it."

This time the process of tacking up went smoothly. Mud was in a good mood, which meant that Duo's toes were spared almost completely. The walk out the the arena was accomplished without a hitch, and somehow they had managed to loose their followers. Things were looking up. Or at least, they were until Duo swung himself up. He didn't even have time to curse before his face was being rubbed into the sawdust of the arena floor.

Duo spit dirt out of his mouth, brushing some sawdust from his face. "That's it." He climbed to his feet, ignoring the fact that his meeting with the ground had nearly taken the breath out of him. Mud backed up a step when his rider reached for the reins.

The human was pissed.

A vein on Duo's forehead became slightly visible as the horse danced just out of reach. He reached again, and Mud evaded him once more. His jaw tensed.

On the sidelines, Heero was frozen in place. He should have been going to get the animal for his partner, but the sheer determination on Duo's face kept him at bay. So much for his well-known shoot first, think later reflexes.

Without so much as tensing a muscle to warn his prey of his intentions, Duo dived for Mud's shoulder, swinging himself up into the saddle before the horse could do more than sidestep in surprise. Rather than bothering with the reins or stirups, he fisted his hands in Mud's mane and shoved his butt as deep into the saddle as he could and tried to hang on for what he knew was coming.

Mud did not disappoint.

A small crowd gathered at the fence to cheer Duo on as the famed Flight Instructor did his best to give Duo a few lessons, bucking, kicking and spinning for all he was worth. At times the only thing keeping Duo attached to the horse was the handful of horsehair knotted around his hands and the fact that he wasn't dumb enough to try to do more than sit there and hold on. 

For his part, Mud was not pleased. One particularly spectaular attempt at ramming his rider into the fence had resulted in Duo throwing his weight far enough to the side that they had nearly gone down together. Worse, the end of his unraveling braid had flipped around and smacked the horse right in his sensitve nose, which only made recovering his balance all the harder. Either the boy had more guts than he'd given him credit for, or was just that stupid. Either way, he was unexpectedly competent.

That being said, he had to go.

Bunching himself up like a coiled spring, Mud launched himself into the air for one last attempt at dislodging his unwelcome guest. At the top of the jump his hind legs kicked upwards for all he was worth, cracking like a whip. Duo was slammed down against the horse's neck, legs jarred loose from their anchoring at Mud's ribs. Automatically, he locked them again, knees now cutting into Mud's neck instead. Duo forgot to breathe as they reached the top of the arc. Then they were headed back down to Earth, wind whipping through their collective hair, hearts thundering.

All of a sudden, it wasn't about winning anymore.

Heero nearly cracked his head on the wall he had been leaning against as Duo cried out fromt the arena. 

"WOOHOO!"

Mud had apparently decided that bucking was pointless and was now sprinting around the ring as fast as the enclosed area would allow him. Duo had somehow managed to get his butt back in the saddle and was actually urging the horse on, grinning wide enough that Heero knew his jaw would be hurting later. He had a good seat when he wasn't fighting to stay on, Heero noticed. He also saw how much Duo was enjoying himself.

'Some things,' Heero told himself with resignation, 'were never meant to be understood.' His eyes tracked the pair in the arena. 'And I think Duo's one of those things.'

***

"That was a rush!" Duo crowed, sitting on the edge of his bed and rubbing a towel through his freshly washed hair while Heero bent over something at their shared desk. "Why didn't you tell me it could be so much fun?"

Heero managed to supress a sigh; Duo had been rambling on about his expereience for over two hours, and there was no sign that he was going to stop. Usually Duo managed to at least compress his thoughts, numerous as they were, into a brief statement. That didn't mean that didn't speak much, only that he spoke of various subjects, and spoke intelligently at that. However, his mind appeared to have somehow gotten stuck on his experience riding earlier that afternoon. Heero was fighting the amazingly strong urge to wrap Duo up in duct tape again and stuff him back into the closet. He DID still owe him for the incident at lunch a few days ago... Although, in Duo's defense, his lap had been the only place in the room to sit at the time. The squirming involved when Duo sat in said lap, however, had been entirely unnecessary.

Ever so slowly, Heero's head slid down until his forehead was resting on the desk. He was attempting to forget everything ELSE that had gone wrong on this mission, most of which wasn't Duo's fault, but still seemed to revolve around him in one way or another.

"Heero, are you alright?" 

Heero fell sideways out of his chair as he suddenly register Duo's prescenece beside him, landing on the floor with a harsh THUD, gun half-drawn. Duo's eyes looked down at him, hovering back and forth between an almost-blue and blackish purple, like they weren't sure what color to be. 

"Heero?" Duo leaned a little farther over him, eyebrows furrowed worriedly. "You looked like you were in pain, I thought maybe you had a headache or something..."

The pilot from L1 stared up at his partner, noticing absently that his knees were still caught on the seat of the chair, left dangling over the floor uselessly. There was something oddly comical about that that made him chuckle. He holstered his gun and sat up, accepting Duo's offered arm and pulling himself to his feet and settling back into his chair.

Duo was still looking at him oddly. "I was... thinking," Heero told him, pulling up a diagram on his laptop and doing his best to regain his composure. Duo may have been a good influence as far as Heero was concerened, but Heero was staring to understand that if he was on the receiving end of much more of that influence one of the others was likely to insist that he have a psychiatric evaluation. "We need an escape plan for Monday. This is the-"

"It's a school, Heero, not a max-security prison," Duo told him gently, biting back a laugh. "'Escape' is simple, we walk out the door."

Heero looked mildly put out. "What if someone attempts to stop us?"

One chestnut eyebrow went up. "Like Lady Une holding the school hostage?" [1] he asked sarcastically. "Heero, the worst thing that'll happen is a teacher'll catch us and we'll have to try again." He turned pale as pieces of his recent life flashed before his eyes. "No, the worst thing that can happen is that we'll get caught by a girl and get passed around like a bowl of popcorn until they either get tired of us or accidentally kill us."

A blue eye glinted as Heero looked at him. "I thought you were the cheerful one."

"I thought teenage boys were supposed to enjoy getting mauled by teenage girls," Duo replied blandly, manfully keeping his face equally placid. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's wrong, huh?"

The Japanese boy grunted. "If I'm supposed to be the cheerful one, we're in a lot of trouble."

Without answering, Duo took a few steps to the left and opened the door to their shared bathroom, pointing at the remote camera they had disabled in the shower with a grin. "You say that like it's a new thing."

There was a thud and a moan of internal pain as Heero let his head fall back onto the desk again.

***

[1] Would you believe that was my original plan? (hangs head in shame) It was such a good idea, too... But it just didn't work out. (sob)


	14. Story 05: Unbroken 06

Unbroken 06/07 + Prologue & Epilogue  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Shounen Ai; Relena Bashing; Baiting of the Hee-chan; Duo-torture; Heero-torture; Humor; Language; Perverted YaoiFanGirls like Little Shrimp); Tiny Cross-over  
By Moon Faery  
Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden ); Kiss of Death ); Lev's Lair )

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, characters and plot are MINE. Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: Forgive me for editing out a plot twist. I forgot it. (sweatdrop) So I made a quick plothole patch and covered it up. ;; I probably need to work on that...

***

The warm autumn night was clear, with a fading crescent moon already hovering over the horizon. The occasional small rodent scampered through the bushes in their nightly wanderings, in search of food. The wind blew gently through the leaves, which were just starting to turn that deep shade of copper the fall season is so famous for. Over head the stars were twinkling mischieviously, shining their faint light down on the quiet school grounds.

It was a perfect night for spying.

Safely hidden away behind a large brick wall, a small group of carefully selected watchers were gathered. One girl held a note pad, another a small pack of supplies. A tall, thin redhead was carefully coiling rope, and the lone boy of the bunch was carefully loading film into a camera. At the wall stood their proud leader, standing on her tip toes to peek over a wall.

Elisia snapped her fingers imperiously, and one of her lackeys immediately produced a small footstool. The brunette carefully stepped up, and was lifted up high enough that she no longer risked putting a crease in her shoes. Another snap lead to a pair of binoculars being handed up to her.

"What are they doing, General?" a particularly peppy blonde asked, bouncing up and down slightly in excitement while holding the rope.

"Quiet, Private, or you'll be stuck with Teacher Guard Duty," Elisia hissed, peering over the wall with her binoculars. The wall was convieniently placed so that it peered directly into the northern windows of the boy's dormatory. Even better, this particular portion of the wall offered a view into the shared dorm of Duo and Heero, and all the occasionally nekkid goodies within.

Life was good.

Through the window, Elisia could clearly see Heero and Duo at the desk supplied by the school, probably doing homework. Duo stepped out of view for a moment.

"General Elisia?"

"Duo's out of sight and Heero just slammed his head down onto the desk," Elisia reported, solely to get the rabble off her back long enough that she could see something good. "I think he's moaning."

The tall girl wiggled happily. "Ooh, I bet he's giving him a blow job under the desk," she sighed contentedly. "We DID get a camera under there, didn't we?"

The boy, Themes, nodded absently, still fiddling with his camera. As the only willing male aid of the Great Project, he had been the one to install most of the dorm survielence equipment. "Did it a couple of nights ago. They keeps some weird shit in their closet."

"Themes, language!" the blonde snapped, wacking the boy on the nose with a rolled up housewives magazine.

"Sorry."

"It's no matter. Good work Lieutenant Themes," their green-eyed leader complimented, deciding not to mention that when Duo had vanished it had been to the left, not down. Morale had to count for something, after all.

"Umm... Ma'am?" the girl with the rope pack, pushing her glasses up on her nose. In her right hand she geld a sheet of paper. "The deadline's Monday, right?" She frowned down at the paper severely.

Elisia took time out of her precious peeping (the boys weren't in view anymore anyways) to glare down at her. "Yes. Why?"

"Then why are the troops Edwards High scheduled to come in on Wednesday?"

"It's really simple Patrice," the blonde with the rope said happily. "We'll need a show of force to persuade them. Isn't that right, Elisia Ma'am?"

While Elisia was nodding absently (being too caught up watching Duo take off his shirt to really hear the cinversation) Patrice rubbed the back of her head in confusion. "Wouldn't it be better if they showed up on Monday then?"

"Of course," the blonde replied, again happily. She was starting to make the tall girl's teeth hurt.

"Then why aren't they?"

"... Oopsies?"

Patrice swiped some of her mousy brown hair back. "Yeah. 'Oopsies' about describes it."

"Miss Elisia?" Aldae, the tall one, tugged on their leader's arm. "What do you think?"

"Huh?" Elisia looked down at Aldae, eyes half focused. "What's the problem? Heero's out of the room and Duo's changing boxers!"

Before anyone could blink, Theme had scaled the wall and started snapping pictures.

"Aheh, yeah..." Aldae muttered, shrugging and ignoring the boy. "We need more troops. The girls from Edwards are going to be late."

Elisia smoothed back some of her black curls. "Recruit from this school then."

Behind Aldae, Patrice waved her hand. "We've already got all the girls that can make it," she reported casually, enjoying watching the popular girl's plans crumble. Revenge was sweet.

"Then get the boys! I don't care!" Elisia rolled her eyes heavenward. "Really, do I have to do all the work?"

"Heero's back!" Themes told him from his perch on the wall, snapping more pictures as he spoke. "He... He's in a TOWEL! He took a SHOWER again!"

The was the end of that conversation. Well, until Heero dried off and put on some clothes.

***

Sunday passed in a semi-pleasant mixture of shopping and plotting as Heero dragged Duo out to find appropriate riding habits for the two of them. When Duo argued that they would only be attending one class, which was hardly worth spending a large sum of money on [1] Heero just grabbed his hand and dragged him along anyway.

It probably wasn't the smartest thing he had ever done. Apparently the sight of him holding Duo's hand (death grip through it might have been) was too much, and even the few female occupants of the school that hadn't been tormenting them joined in the fun. By the time they escaped the campus and onto the streets they had somehow lost their shirts and had more lipstick prints on them than they could reach to wipe off. Duo's braid had once more been violated with flowers and barrets, while Heero had somehow managed to aquire writing on his back in permanent marker, reading, "Honk if I'm hot."

What was even more annoying was that people were actually honking.

After that the day imporved drastically. They had to buy tourist T shirts from a roadside vendor (after Duo had threatened more than one sales clerk about Earth's standard "no shoes, no shirt" policy), but collecting their riding habits went smoothly once they were fully dressed again. There was one close moment when they nearly ran into a group of students from their school, but their pursuers lacked the numbers to overwhelm them the same way they did on campus.

It was nearly pure luck that they arrived back at school during the dinner hour, and were able to retreat to their room reletively unscathed, where they spent the night planning their revenge for the indignities that had been heaped on them over the past two weeks. Neither boy bothered to mention that it was unlikely they would ever have a chance to put their plans into action, soothing to their male egos as the act of planning might have been.

Absolutely nothing else happened, much to the frustration of the girls who had planted yet another vid-only bug in their room while they were out. Themes wasn't paticularly pleased either, but he was more upset that all of his other cameras had been taken out than that Heero and Duo remained chaste. After all, nothing had been happening all weekend; why should things change now?

***

The fateful Monday morning of near-prophetic proportions arrived on schedule, as did the hordes of feminine fans at their dorm door. When the two boys stepped out on their way to breakfast, they found themselves faced with the at least a tenth of under-age population of the school, male AND female, although the male portion of the group looked much set-upon, and more than one was actually being held in a headlock against his attempts to escape.

Among the boys, Heero and Duo's fame had obviously never spread.

At the front of the crowd was Elisia, batting her green eyes innocently while she held her brother's neck to keep him from running. She was radiating all the emotional ice of an arctic winter, standing stiff and proud in her high heels and school uniform.

"Hello, boys," the leader of the pack purred, smiling predetorily.

Pure fear and instinct had made lesser men cower in the face of such odds, but Heero and Duo were stronger than that. In a show of defiance and bravery, they placed their backs to the door and held their ground, trying to pretend that didn't feel like whimpering.

Elisia smiled when they moved. "Excellent, dear Heero. Simply perfect. I see that Duo has informed you of our ultimatum?" Her brother - who was obviously at least a year younger than his sister up close - struggled, and she flexed her nails just enough that they pressed againt his jugular. "I assume that you have taken time to consider our offer and prepare the necessary materials for the exchange?"

"Why-" Duo's voice squeaked embarassingly. He cleared his throat, managing to make himself sound only a little less terrified. "Elisia, why'd you bring the guys? They don't have any part in this."

Someone in the back yelled, "That's GENERAL Elisia to you!"

Heero twitched.

Their blackmailer eyed the squirming sibling under her hand disdainfully and ignored the interuption. "I suppose you're correct." She locked eyes with Heero as though evaluating his intelligence. From her dissatisfied sniff, she must have found something lacking. "However, I would like to be certain that the show of force was appreciated before I allow them to go."

Duo had to fight back a twitch and a smart assed remark at her attitude.

It was Heero's turn to eye someone disdainfully. Unfortunately, it was Elisia's brother. "Consider it noted." Unspoken was his thought, 'If that's her troops, then Duo and I are in less trouble than we thought.'

"I'm glad we understand each other," she smirked, releasing her grip on her brother, who almost immediately ran down the hall and vanished. Heero's eyebrows went up as he watched the other male members of the group disappear with similar alaracrity. They were better trained than he had first assumed.

The black-haired girl watched calmly as the boys all left. Her loyal followers stayed, each one staring hungrily at Heero and Duo. Now that half of the group had left, there were only about a hundred people left, but that was more than enough as far as Heero and Duo were concerned. The girls crowded the hallway of the supposedly male-only dorm, blocking every concievable exit. Heero and Duo, intimidated by their united front, eased closer to the comforting solidity of the door.

"What do you want?" It was Heero who spoke again, being the only one of the pair who was mostly unencumbered by a near-overpowering fear of the oposite sex.

Elisia stood, calm and sure of her self, in the middle of her group, projecting an air similar to the one put out by a general just before the oposing army surenders. "I should think that's obvious by now." She held out her hand palm-up. "I believe that we had an agreement with," she smirked condescendingly, "little Duo?"

Duo swallowed the large lump of un-mashed potatoes that he imagined was lodged in his throat. "We didn't have a deal about anything," he managed to state, almost without stuttering. The sheer absurdity of their situation manged to ground him somehow. They were leaving that afternoon; why should he worry if Relena got her poor little-girl's heart broken by an imaginary relationship with Heero? He decided that he'd figure out who's imaginary relationship with Heero later, after they got out of this with the shreds of their dignity intact. The thought that he had a better chance with Heero than Relena did was soothing to Duo's ego, though, so he held onto it. So smoothly that the change was barely noticeable, Duo's eyes began to shade down the spectrum to a dark, almost blue shade of violet.

It didn't take as much courage as he thought it would to step away from the door, especially when he saw Heero adjust his position out of the corner of his eye. He would trust Heero to guard his back better than any door. "You blackmailed me, and I was stupid enough to actually think about going along with it!" Every word got easier to say, until at the end of the sentence, Duo was almost completely recovered from his state of terror. 

Several of the girls in the front-line stepped back, suddenly doubting their place in Elisia's plans when the boys started to prove unwilling to play. The ones in back, unable to get a clear view of the procedings farther up, held their positions and prevented any attempted dessertions.

The group's leader arched a black eyebrow and eyed Duo as if he was somethings he had scraped off her shoe. Slowly, she nodded. "I'll grant you that, I did indded blackmail you, and you are indeed stupid. However, that doesn't change the way matters currently stand."

"No, it doesn't," Heero jumped in unexpectedly. "You can tell Relena what ever you want. It doesn't matter to us."

Elisia sniffed delicately, not bothing to look away from Duo, who she had long ago targeted as the one most suseptible to feminine intimation. Her demenor went from frozen all the way down to absolute-zero. "Is this true, little- Mr. Maxwell?"

Duo nodded firlmly. "Yeah, it is. Heero and I aren't together." Somehow, he resisted the urge to glance at Heero for confirmation; there was no need to let the enemy know that he was working on that.

Or at least he had been before the whole "protect Relena" thing side-tracked him.

"Such a pity," Elisia said, almost sounding sincere. "I'll give you until lunch to change your minds. Good-bye, boys." The crowd parted for her as she turned and left the builing regally. Several girls gave Heero and Duo longing looks before dutifully following their ring leader out of the boys dormatory.

"What IS it with that girl and dramatic exits?" Duo asked, rubbing his forehead.

Heero shrugged silently, then grabbed Duo's arm and hauled him back through their door, slamming and locking it behind them.

A long chestnut braid swung in a wide arc as Duo struggled to escape his roommate's grasp. "Heero?!"

"We're leaving through the window," Heero told him tersely.

Duo just laughed.

***

After safely making their way to the cafeteria and eating breakfast their first class was chemistry. Somehow their esteemed chemistry proffesor Mrs. Waldring hadn't firgured out that allowing the two of them work with anything remotely hazardous wasn't a very good idea. Even worse, she also didn't know that Duo had already obtained access to her locked cabinet of chemicals and substances that just weren't safe for most high school students.

Needless to say, Chemistry was much more exciting than usual for a few weeks.

Less than ten minutes after the students had been issued their supplies, Heero had already concoted various small flash explosives and Duo had somehow created a goopy yelloish-blue substance similar to a flour-water mixture. If flour and water had a tendancy to expand uncontrolably when exposed to air, that is. Since they shared a lab, it was fairly easy for them to trade experiments, Heero trying to make Duo's goo dangerous and Duo trying to make Heero's explosives more powerful.

Poor Mrs. Waldering didn't stand a chance. If it wasn't for the recently created Last Will and Testament carefully folded away in her solid (nearly bulletproof) desk, she would have abandonded the classroom and her students to the teenage maniacs several days ago. As it was, she just spent most of her time praying for a quick, painless death and a short, painless probate.

Fortunately, Heero and Duo were too good at what they did to take out a civilian teacher just because they knew more chemistry than she did.

The boys were currently being harrassed by their usual followers, who were crowding around their table, pretending to admire their work while trying for a decent grope. The V-shaped design of the table effectively foiled them, since it put the boys in a position to guard each other's highly valued backsides.

Directly opposite their table, Relena was chattering happily at her rapt lab partner, "General" Elisia. Occasionally one of her guesturing hands came close to knocking over one of their lab samples, but Elisia just smiled like a love-sick monkey and straightened out whatever mess had been made for her precious Miss Relena. More than once, Relena pointed at the Gundam Pilots table and made something that sounded suspiciously like a happy sigh.

Elisia just kept looking blissfully stupid. The "Relena talks, Elisia ogles" arangement seemed to be working out nicely.

Duo kept one eye on the pair so convientently located, fighting off a small frown. Leaning away from his side of the table, he elbowed Heero lightly in the side. When his partner raised an eyebrow at him, Duo jerked his chin at Relena and Eisia. "Lesbian, anyone?"

Heero glared first at them, then at Duo. "It's none of our business what Relena does with her sex life," he chided quietly, flicking Duo's nose sharply.

Wide violet eyes stared at him for a second before Duo started cracking up. His braid coming dangerously close to an unlit bunsen burner that Mrs. Waldering hadn't worked up the courage to confiscate yet. His laughter cut off with a yelp as someone took advantage of his exposed back to slip their hand into his back pocket and fondle the goods. His braid smacked Heero between the eyes and he whirled around, holding a test tube threateningly.

The blonde-haired, browned culprit pouted up at him innocently, batting her lashes winsomely. If her hand hadn't still been in his pocket he might even have thought she was innocent. With one last squeeze, the girl pulled her hand off his butt and ducked back to her own table, grinning manaically.

Natually, Duo looked up to see what the teacher - the lady who should have been preventing things like that - was going to do. Apparently, the answer was nothing. Mrs. Waldering had shoved on a World War style pith helmet and ducked under her desk, thus missing the entire degrading scene.

"Damned women," Duo growled in an unconcious immitation of Wufei, who he was starting to sympathize with. Before he could even grind out another anti-feminine curse, yet another person took advantage of his distraction to grope him. Duo's teeth clenched and his eyes narrowed. Once again he turned to face his assailant, ready to let them have it.

Heero looked up from measuring salt peter, failing to look even remotely innocent.

Duo's day was looking up.

***

Riding class passed easier than either boy had dared to hope. Mud only made one half-hearted attempt to dislodge his rider, which Duo easily managed to ignore. More than one jaw dropped when Mud went through almost a full ten minutes of class without stepping more than two hooves out of line.

Of course, nothing stays that easy for long.

First they were told to ride around the ring in the three basic gaits, one time around per gate. Then their stirrups were removed and they were told to do the same thing. Only a few student fell, but almost everyone was forced to hold on for dear life as they were bounced all over the saddle.

Then they were told to hold their arms out to the side and do it again. Needless to say, that wasn't the best idea ever presented to a class of mainly rich teenagers. Heero, Duo and three members of the gymnastics team were able to stay on, and Duo only by the grace of Mud's exceptionally smooth trot.

Mr. F, who had taken it upon himself to teach his class riding inspite of his own complete incompetency in the area, stopped the group in the middle of their balancing exercises and waved them to where he stood in the middle of the arena for an inspirational speech.

He should have stuck with history and math.

"Now, children, I understand that many of you know only the most basic of skills on horseback," he began gently, looking remarkably like Santa Clause in his bright red riding ensemble, decorated over the heart with St. Teresa's coat of arms. "This is really much simpler than you're all making it out to be. I'll demonstrate. Mr. Maxwell, if you'll dismount please?"

And that was Mr. F's big mistake of the day.

***

[1] ;; I.. Um, kind of forget whether I stuck with dollars or credits... Or if I bothered to mention money at all. (shrugs) I would have re-read the previous stories, but then I would have found something that could be better and revised them some more, and it would have been an extra month before you guys saw anything from me at all. Which would YOU prefer? (raises eyebrow) I thought so.


	15. Story 05: Unbroken 07

Unbroken 07/07 + Prologue & Epilogue  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Shounen Ai; Relena Bashing; Baiting of the Hee-chan; Duo-torture; Heero-torture; Humor; Language; Perverted YaoiFanGirls (like Little Shrimp); Tiny Cross-over  
By Moon Faery

Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden ); Kiss of Death ); Lev's Lair )

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, characters and plot are MINE. Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: YAY! Do you people realize that I've been working on this arc for over a year now? (pops the cork on some champagne) It's my longest-running work to date! ^_^ WOOHOO!

***

When the what was turning out to be one of Duo's least disliked teachers said something that ammounted to a request for assisted suicide, Duo did everything he could think of to avoid it. First he looked around him, hoping to find someone else who fit the name "Mr. Maxwell". Then he prayed for something to interfere. Finally he looked back at the teacher. "Are you talking to me?"

"Of course I'm talking to you!" Mr. F said sternly. "I'll need to borrow your horse to demonstrate the proper balancing technique. Now get off and hand me those..." His face went blank. "Hand me those leather strap things you use to steer."

Mud stamped a hoof and flicked his ears back slightly, not liking how that sounded one bit.

Deciding that stupidity was obviously the larger part of courage, Duo remained where he was. "Are you sure about that?" he asked Mr. F nervously. "This isn't exactly an easy horse to ride..."

"Of course I'm certain!" the poor, deluded man snapped, finally loosing his temper. "Dismount Maxwell, or I'll have you writen up!"

The Gundam pilot in question sighed and slid off his horse, trying not to listen to his classmates' horrified whispers.

"He's going to die!"

"Oh, man, Mud's got another victim!"

"Maybe he's mellowed... Duo was riding him..."

One enterprising student was even starting to write the speech she would give at the funeral.

Mr. F snatched the reins and dragged himself up onto Mud's back, looking absolutely ridiculous in a saddle at least ten inches too small for his bulk. At least he didn't stay there for long. Mud took one look at his new rider before his ears pinned back againt his skull and planting his rump solidly in the arena dirt.

Duo tugged on Heero's jacket and pointed. "Did that horse just sit?" he asked calmly, slightly surprised that nothing more explosive happened.

Heero nodded, not bothering to look away from the sputtering Mr. F as he heaved himself out of the sawdust for another try. "Yes."

"Good, I was afraid I had a concusion or something."

"Aa."

Once again, Mr. F was attempting to mount the horse. He was hindered by the fact the the Flight Instructor was still sitting down, looking very comfortable and unwilling to move. Somone pulled a camera out of somewhere and snapped a picture for the yearbook.

Mr. F turned his brown eyes on the culprit, glaring for all he was worth. "Put that camera away, Ms. Jenson! I'll expect a ten page essay from you on the proper time for photography on Friday morning!" Amy Jenson groaned and shoved her camera away. "The rest of you practice walking around the ring. I'll be right along in a moment."

"Um... Sir?" Duo asked tentatively, wiggling his fingers at the increasingly put-out older man. "What about me?"

"You ride double with Mr. Yuy," Mr. F replied without really looking away from Mud. "After I give the demonstartion you'll get your horse back."

Blue and violet eyes locked for a moment before both boys shrugged. Heero stuck out his hand from where he sat aboard his blood bay mare. "Use the back of Ruby's knee to help yourself up," he advised calmly. It took three tries before Duo managed to pull himself up without a stirrup, but soon he was perched securely behind Heero's saddle as they rode the horse around at a walk.

Fourty-five minutes later, Mr. F finally gave up and annoucned that the class was over, having never achieved his goal of mounting the Flight Instructor and staying mounted. He handed Duo back his reins and grumbled when Mud pricked his ears and stood up from his most recent tactic, which involved laying down and biting anything that came near the saddle.

Duo was going to miss that horse.

***

Lunch came upon them with all the abruptness of a speeding fangirl. Heero and Duo headed immediately to the cafeteria, half starved from the effort of not laughing at their hapless homeroom teacher. Elisia watched their progress from the food line to their usual table from her place by the door carefully, frowning when it became obvious that they weren't going to approach her. Turning, she vanished into the lunchroom crowd.

Duo poked at his pasta as Heero slid into the seat to his left, turning over to thoroughly mix the sauce with the noodles. "Heero, isn't spaghetti sauce supposed to be red? With mushrooms and stuff?" He poked his food again.

Looking up from his chicken dish, Heero's eyebrows both lifted. "Duo, that's vermicelli in a seafood sauce, not spaghetti."

"Oh." Duo managed to push down a blush by fiddling around with his food some more and refusing to look at Heero. "Sorry."

Heero frowned and pushed aside his own plate. "What's wrong?" He nearly managed to make himself sound unconcerned.

The braided boy shrugged and kept playing with his food, refusing to meet Heero's eyes. "Nothing, I just feel out of my league. I don't even know half of what we've been eating here is, besides the fact that half of what they spend on dinner could probably buy a small colony." He grinned. "Well, and half of it's disgusting. I don't care what they called 'em, but those were SNAILS they gave me last night, not food!"

"It's escargo, idiot. Of course it's snails." Heero resisted the urge to rub the bridge of his nose. "Stop changing the subject."

"I'm not changing the subject," Duo answered defensively, taking a large bite out of his pasta. "I'm trying to change the subject. There's a difference, you know."

Sighing, Heero absently placed his right hand on Duo's left one under the table. "Duo, just because these people are rich doesn't mean they know anything. None of them could calculate the timing for a launch window to the moon, much less do it as fast as you can."

Duo grimaced at himself and leaned into Heero's shoulder slightly. "I know. I'm just feeling a little weirded out Heero. I just never realized how much it must suck being normal, you know?"

"You still want to be normal though, don't you?" Heero asked quietly, twining his fingers with Duo's.

"Yeah. You too?"

"Sometimes," Heero stold him quietly, enjoying the warmth at his shoulder in the chilly room. "Usually not. There are somethings that make it worth everything."

Duo's presence at Heero's side pulled a way a bare inch as he looked at Heero curiously. "Worth everything?" he repeated, gravitating back towards Heero unconciously. "Like what?"

Heero shifted so that he was facing his partner at a more direct angle, still angling his body towards Duo. "Like seeing the moon rise over the Earth from orbit. Like..." Eyes locked onto Duo's, Heero leaned forward the last few inches until his forehead was brushing Duo's.

"Like..?" Duo repeated softly, licking his lips nervously. Something warm and tingling was squirming around in his chest, making him lightheaded and slightly giddy.

They slid slightly closer, lips almost brushing. "Like this," Heero breathed heavily, tilting his head to cover the last few centimeters between his lips and Duo's.

"HEEROOOO! DUOOOOO!" someone screamed right next to their ears less than a moment before they would have kissed. Heero froze, turning in his seat to pin the idiot who interupted them with the most withering stare he could come up with.

'Target aquired,' his brain whispered sinisterly as it positively identified the source of the interuption. Smoothly he reached under his jacket for his weapon.

Reaching out, Duo absently plucked Heero's gun away from him before it could alarm the general populace. "Not now, Heero," he scolded absently. "Escape first, kill later."

Relena was trembling, blue eyes huge and heartbroken in her overly-pale face. A few feet behind her Elisia wiggled her fingers at them cheerfully, grinning like a lunatic.

The girl commonly known as the Pink Leech wiped a few tears from the corner of her eye. "It's true, isn't it?" she asked slowly, wringing her hands helplessly. "I suppose I should have seen it sooner, but..." Her face crinkled up and turned red as she began to sob brokenly. "Oh, Heero!" Without a single thought towards self-preservation, Relena launched herself at Heero and wrapping her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder.

Heero's hands came up in the classic position indicating he was unarmed. He had been trained to deal with bombs, live gun fire and even guerilla warfar. Handling an unarmed distraught girl did NOT fall under any of those categories. If she'd been male maybe he would have had a hope of getting through the situation pride intact, but even Herro knew that a crying woman was much more voltile than nitrogliceren, and more likely to do bodily harm.

Awkwardly, Duo reached over to pat one of Relena's shaking shoulders gingerly. Heero cautiously immitated his movements, looking like he'd rather handle a live viper.

"There, there," Duo said uselessly, as men tend to do when women have emotional moments. "We're... Uh, sorry... I think."

She started crying harder.

The two pilots stared at each other helplessly, silently asking each other what to do next. Duo shrugged. Heero whimpered.

At the sound, Relena looked up, face slightly blotchy from crying so hard. Sniffling, she leveled a hurt look at them and asked the one question they had been dreading. "How could you do this to me?"

Both boys minds went blanker than a brand-new chalkboard.

"Well.. Uh, you see..." Duo tried, doing his best to think of a word with two or more syllables. "It's hard to... Umm..."

"We're sorry," Heero told her firmly, since it was the only thing he could think of that wouldn't get them both mauled by either Relena or her followers.

"You're SORRY?" Relena screeched, pushing him away sharply. Her tears had vanished and she towered over their sitting forms like a vengeful goddess. "YOU'RE SORRY? You two don't even bother to TELL me that you're together and you're SORRY?! What kind of friends ARE YOU?!"

Their backs were against the table, but Heero and Duo still tried to cower farther away from Relena's ranting figure.

Relena continued to yell at them, guesturing and emphasising her words with little lady-like stamps of her feet. Little blonde hairs were sticking out from her neat little french braid at off angles and her face was turning blue from the effort of yelling without breathing. "ANYBODY else would have had the SIMPLE HUMAN COURTESY to SAY SOMETHING to me, but you two just couldn't rouse yourselves to even drop a HINT!!!" Leaning forward, she poked Heero right in the chest sharply. "Think of all that time I WASTED because of you two! I spent SO much time trying to force you two together for NOTHING!" 

Heero and Duo stared at her in complete confusion, not quite assimilating her last sentence. "Huh?"

The ranting female rubbed her temple, pushing away a stress headache. "You don't think you were... transferred here on accident, did you? Do you have any idea how many strings I had to pull to do that?"

"You..?" Heero asked slowly, brain still arguing with his fight or flight reflexes.

Duo's mind was working a little faster than Heero's, but only because he was finding the situation too hilarious to feel intimidated. He started laughing. "That's why you wanted Heero instead of me!"

Relena bobbed her head primly. "Of course. With Heero I could have dropped hints and stayed safely in the background. You would have never fallen for that, Duo." She pouted. "You wouldn't believe how many perfectly good plans you ruined when you showed up here with Heero." She grimaced, eyeing the students crowded around them warily, all too aware that there were some things even Heero would have to kill her for doing, dropping classified information being the least of them. "I suppose the... transfer papers weren't what I expected them to be."

Heero blinked. "You tried to set us up?" he asked indignintly, not quite able to wrap his mind around the idea that his precious, innocent little hope for peace had meddled with his love life.

"Yes, and the sky is blue, the Earth is round and Bad Luck is gay," Relena told him sarcastically. "Is there anything else you'd like clarified?"

"You tried to set us up?"

Obviously, Heero's brain still needed to thaw a bit more.

Duo rolled his eyes and scooted over. "Have a seat, 'Lena," he said expansively, patting the vacant spot to his right. "We'll talk while he comes back from orbit."

Smoothing her uniform skirt, Relena smiled down at Duo and slid into the offered seat on the bench. "Thank you Duo, I believe I will."

Beside them Heero was mnching on a piece of now-cold chicken. "Relena... Tried to set me up with Duo..."

The two braided teenager, one female and one male, looked at each other and shrugged.

"He'll get over it eventually," Duo told her calmly, taking a bite of his vermicelli while a random lacky brought Relena's lunch from wherever she had abandoned it to yell at them. "First things first; how did this get started?"

Brightening happily, Relena forgot about Heero as she began to explain her plan. "You see, a few weeks ago I ran into Quatre in Vienna. We talked some and..."

Beside them, Heero was still trying to figure out where he had gone wrong.

***

"Come on, Heero, say something," Duo urged, manuevering their rental truck around a corner carefully, flashing his headlights when the car coming at him forgot to switch to low beams. "It couldn't have been that big of a shock."

"No I won't, and yes it was." Heero sunk down in the seat, arms crossed like a sulky teenager.

They drove on for a few more minutes in silence before Duo got sick of it. "Heero, snap out of it. We should have seen it coming, but that's no reason to give me the silent treatment."

"That's exactly the problem!" Heero finally snapped, slinking lower until his chin was forced to touch his chest. "We SHOULD have seen it coming! Every other damned girl in the school was trying to get us together. The odds are astronomical that Relena wouldn't be with them!"

"Relena was their ringleader Heero; of course she was with them," Duo explained slowly, passing a minivan. "She's a healthy, red-blooded teenage girl who just wants to see her friends happy. It's not her fault Elisia took her idea too far, it's not your fault that we didn't figure it out sooner and it's not my fault I decided to tag along."

"It's Quatre's fault for telling her about his damn 'they slept together' theory," Heero grumbled.

"Now you're getting it!" Duo cheered sarcastically, turning onto a rough dirt and gravel road. "Suck it up; we're not the first men to be manipulated by a woman and we won't be the last. Deal with it and move on or Wufei's going to figure out what happened and laugh his ass off."

"Threatening me will do you no good," Heero grunted. Nevertheless, he straightened in his seat and uncrossed his arms as they pulled up to the cabin they had left only a few weeks ago. Wufei had been busy in his downtime; there was a freshly planted border of concealing bushes around the porch, the holes in the steps had been patched and the lawn had been mowed.

Duo could only hope that he'd remembered to repair the Gudams admist what had apparently been a whirlwind of domesticisity. 

Before Duo could do more than park, Wufei came out the front door, hands busily drying a plate. "Food's ready," he called too cheerfully. "It's in the oven; come and get it as soon as you finish searching the yard for women with immoral intentions."

Heero groaned and slumped back into his previous position as Wufei vanished back into the safety of the house. "I'm going to kill whoever told him."

Duo just let his head fall forward to rest on the steering wheel. "Me too. Right after I kill Quatre."

***


	16. Story 05: Unbroken Epilogue

Unbroken Epilogue/07 + Prologue & Epilogue  
V of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc  
Rating: pg13  
Series: Gundam Wing  
Genre: General/Romance  
Pairings: 1+2+1  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Shounen Ai; Relena Bashing/Humanizing; Baiting of the Hee-chan; Duo-torture; Heero-torture; Humor; Language; Perverted YaoiFanGirls (like Little Shrimp); Tiny Cross-over  
By Moon Faery

Archived: (eventually at) Moon Faery's Garden ); Kiss of Death ); Lev's Lair )

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, characters and plot are MINE. Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: It's finally DONE. FINISHED. COMPLETE. Now I just have four (maybe five) one-shots to finish and I can start on the next fic in the Arc. (sweatdrops) At least only two of them are non-GW, and one of them is likely to be deleted. (nodnod) So be of good cheer, I'll have something else to post soon!

***

"It's not that God damned funny Wu!" Duo complained as Wufei broke into laughter for the third time in a row. They were seated around the small kitchen table, eating some sort of meal that involved a large amount of vegetables and rice. Wufei had insisted on being told everything, but hadn't made it through five minutes without laughing.

"You obviously already know what happened," Heero pointed out grumpily, still sulking. "Why do you need to hear it again?"

"Because it's funny, Yuy," Wufei told him, stifling his chuckles. "It's rare that a renown pacifist manages to so totally fool a pair of highly trained pilots."

"Rub it in why don't you," Duo muttered, mimicing Heero's "I'm pouting" posture.

"I intend to," Wufei informed him seriously, still grinning broadly.

"Next time ANY mission has ANYTHING to do with Relena, you're taking it Wu," Duo told him tiredly, forking up another mouthful of rice. "I'm getting sick of having women screw with my mind."

Duo put down his fork even though there was plenty of food still on his plate. Wufei had piled it so high that it probably would have fed him for three days and there still would have been left overs. "I'm going to take a shower. Then I'm going to get some sleep. Wufei, if you're that curious, try asking Heero."

Heero glared at their Chinese friend, who had the decency to stare down at his plate.

Flicking his braid over his shoulder, Duo smirked. "I thought so. G'night."

Wufei watched him leave, trying not to laugh some more.

***

An ungodly beeping woke Duo from a heavy sleep around midnight. Reflexes kicked into motion before he was fully awake and could register that the noise came from his laptop on the desk. Heero didn't even wake up, subconciously recognizing the sound as non-threatening. Running his fingers through his sleep-mussed bangs, Duo stumbled over to the portable computer and flipped it open, punching a few keys to shut it up, fully intending to go back to bed. Unfortunately, the same sequence that turned off the alarm also bright the received message up onto the screen.

  
**_To:_** Dark Elf  
**_From:_** Druid's Temple  


Dark eyes narrowed as Duo scanned the message. It was brief and contained all the necessary authenticity codes. Casting one regretful look at Heero's sleeping form, he sent his aknowledgement, then opened up another window for a message to Quatre.

  
**_To:_** Rock of Gibralter  
**_CC:_** Blue Eyes, A-TB, Aladdin's Books  
**_From:_** Fallen Father

_--Something came up back home. Going to be out of town for a few days on family business. I'll send you news if something comes up.--_  


He hit send before he could stop himself, silently reciting the names of the people counting on him and hoping Deathscythe was as fixed up as Wufei said it was. Luckily his duffle was still packed from his visit to St. Teresa's. He took a side trip to the bathroom to pick up his toothbrush.

Heero was going to be pissed.

With that thought, Duo dodged back up the hall. Cracking the door slowly, he peeked inside, nearly dropping his bag when he saw Heero sitting up in bed, watching the door.

"Mission?"

Setting his things by the door, Duo stepped the rest of the way into the room and sat down on the edge of Heero's bed. "Not exactly," he said honestly.

He couldn't see Heero's expression, but he could practically feel him raise an eyebrow. "I suppose you left a note?"

"Yeah."

Heero grunted. "Be careful. I don't want to have to rescue you from an OZ cell again."

"Can do, Captain," Duo quipped nervously, fiddling with the tip of his braid.

The bed dipped at Heero shifted closer, wrapping his arms around Duo's chest and resting his cheek on Duo's shoulder. "I never got to finish telling you why I don't regret being a Gundam pilot," he said softly. His eyes caught the faint light of the setting moon outside, glinting silver in the dark.

For some reason Duo's mouth went dry. "Why don't you tell me now?"

Leaning up, Heero deliberately locked eyes with Duo in the faint light before brushing their lips together lightly, then with more pressure as he found he liked the sensation. Duo's position gave him few inches advantage over Heero height-wise, forcing him to lean over his short-haired partner as they kissed slowly, savoring each other in case they never got another chance. Their shared bedside clock beeped out the new hour, jolting them out of the private world they had created. Duo gave Heero one last kiss and stood up.

"Don't die on me," Heero told him, ignoring the lump that was trying to clog his thoat. "Or I'll kill you."

"Take your own advice for once," Duo replied smoothly, pretending he hadn't heard Heero's voice catch as he scooped up his bag and started to leave. "Catch you next mission."

Heero didn't bother getting up to watch Duo leave, forcing himself to remain in bed as the sound of Duo leaving carried up to the bedroom.

***OWARI***


End file.
